The Association Guide to Going Global E-Book

Steven Worth

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 332

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2010

Beschreibung

Why going global is critical-and inevitable-for your association's growth and survival Multiple case studies of associations that have entered the global arena will be included. The Association Guide to Going Global demonstrates how many associations have used globalization to their advantage, finding that increasing their reach and influence on an international scale has allowed their organizations continued success. * Underscores how the advantages of changes outweigh the risks * How adapting to new market trends is an act that cannot, and should not, be avoided * Offers a problem-solution guide to potentially intimidating questions about the process * Explains how small associations may often have an advantage over large corporations due to flexibility * Coverage features topics including an overview of problems encountered, structure, funding/financing, language and culture, endeavors in specific countries, successes and failures, and what it means to truly become global. Avoid mistakes made by other organizations by going global and ultimately following the paths of those who accomplished their goals.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

Foreword

Introduction

How the Book Is Organized

Chapter 1 - Why Go Global?

Long-Term Implication of Current Trends

Leading the Way in a Flattened World

The Rise of SMEs in the Global Arena

Opportunities in the Face of Declining Membership: How to Survive When Dealing ...

Outwit, Outplay, Outlast: Today’s Associations Need Creativity, Imagination, ...

Putting the Market in the Driver’s Seat

Is a Global Strategy Beyond Your Means?

Associations Could Profit from Global Opportunities

Assisting Countries in Need with Associations’ Missions

Making the Case to Go Global

Rising to the Challenge

Chapter 2 - Common Problems in the Glob al Arena

Globalization in the New Millennium

Cross-Border Collaboration: Sell Successfully Overseas by Learning the Local Needs

Global Localization

Sorting Out What Is Global from What Is Local

Chapter 3 - The Structure of the Globalized Association

A Regional Development Strategy

Buy-In Through Collaboration

Bigger May Not Be Better for Associations Planning to Go Global

Strategic Alliances and Sister Companies

Regional Structure, Board Members, and Localization

What Is Fair in a Global Democratic Governance Structure?

Leadership in a Consensus-Based Environment

Chapter 4 - Funding and Financing

Sources of Income

Mixed Signals on Globalization

The Globalization Dilemma

Moving from Corporate Sponsorship to Corporate Partnership

Chapter 5 - Language and Culture

Cross-Cultural Deal Making: Don’t Take “Yes” for an Answer!

Language and Policies Relating to Languages

Guarding Your Intellectual Property Rights

Should Your Brand Be Scrubbed Clean of Any Cultural Bias?

Foreign Representatives

Term Limits

Flexibility and the Ability to Make Mistakes

Being True to Your Word

When in Rome

The Tug of War between Local and Global

Chapter 6 - Endeavors in Specific Countries

Global Strategies Begin with Research

Entering the Chinese Market

Succeeding in India

Special Challenges in Transatlantic Relations

Following the Flag

Relative Merits of These Markets

The Fee-for-Service Model Migration

Chapter 7 - Successes and Failures

Action Plans for Globalization Success

A Look at Four Models

Costs versus Benefits of Each Model in Four Overseas Market Categories

Chapter 8 - Final Thoughts on Truly Becoming Global

Globalization Is Survival: Becoming Global as an Antidote to Stagnant or ...

Globalization Is a New Opportunity: Becoming Global Is Not Just for the Wealthy

Globalization Is a Tidal Force: Doing Well by Doing Good

Globalization Is Outreach: Communities of Common Interest

Doing Well by Doing Good—Continued

About the Author

Index

Copyright © 2010 by Plexus Consulting Group, LLC. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey. Published simultaneously in Canada.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Worth, Steven M.

The association guide to going global : new strategies for a changing economic landscape/ Steven M. Worth. p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 978-0-470-58789-8 (cloth)

1. Trade associations. 2. Associations, institutions, etc.

3. International business enterprises. 4. Globalization. I. Title.

HD2421.W’.049—dc22

2010006832

This book is dedicated to the volunteer leadership and professional staff who guided and made the tough decisions described in this book. The wisdom of their decisions has since shown through, but at the time they were made it was not at all clear that this was the right course of action. Their courage marks them as trailblazers. They not only built solid foundations for the global growth of their organizations; they set an example of leadership from which we can all learn.

Foreword

In the non-profit world of associations and philanthropic organizations, globalization is a condition that was largely unknown only a decade ago. It was less than ten years ago that the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) conducted a survey of the major issues and concerns of senior association executives. Globalization and worldwide activities were not a significant concern for the majority of respondents! Yet, the process of globalization is not new. It has been taking place for a long time, particularly in the highly competitive for-profit world. For much of the nonprofit sector, however, globalization has been little more than a vague concept, or worse, just an overused and inapplicable cliché. Times have changed!

Today, even in the world of nonprofit associations and philanthropic organizations, globalization is becoming one of the highest priorities, fueled by the example of the increasingly competitive for-profit world economy, where downsizing and offshoring in the United States (and elsewhere) have become commonplace. Globalization has accelerated even faster over the past couple of years with the substantial economic decline in the United States and elsewhere. Suddenly, large and small nonprofits are seeking information and experience for expanding their members, goods, and services beyond the borders of their historic local, regional, and national U.S. area of operations. Suddenly, globalization is real and tangible.

But there are some important questions to be asked and more important answers that are needed. For example, just what is globalization? How is globalization defined and measured? Is globalization exporting some publications outside the United States? Is globalization having a separate category of membership for persons residing outside the United States? Does an office outside the United States qualify a nonprofit as a global organization?

Beyond definition, there are key nonprofit organization issues of mission and goals. Does globalization support or compete with my organization’s mission and goals? Should my organization aspire to be global, and if so, how do we get there? And what if my organization has been operating outside the United States—is there anything more to be learned?

Beyond these important issues are other considerations: the planning and operational issues—the structural issues. What are the organizational planning and implementation options for globalization? Which options best fit the mission and goals of my organization? What has been the experience of those organizations that have been involved in global operations for years?

Just how can one consider and translate the globalization cliché to fit a specific nonprofit organization? Or does one size fit all?

Steven Worth’s book brings together an amazing range of global experience in the nonprofit sector together with wide-ranging case studies and specific globalization examples. For the first time, as far as I am aware, executives and leaders in the nonprofit world have a comprehensive and focused resource about globalization that is specifically tailored to the nonprofit sector. It’s a resource that is action oriented, tailored to support the debate, decision making, and strategic and operational planning necessary for successful globalization by non-profit organizations that wish to embark on that journey. For nonprofits already conducting worldwide operations, the book is full of case studies and shared experience that will help strengthen existing global activities.

From all appearances, globalization will be around for a long time to come. It promises to become a common part of our vocabulary, and our business planning and operations, for as far forward as we can see. Steve Worth’s experience and book provide the nonprofit sector with an invaluable resource to deal with the new, global way of our seeing and operating in our world.

Virgil R. Carter, Executive Director (retired) American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)

Introduction

You know you are global when:

• Your organization feels as “at home” in any one culture or in any one part of the globe as in another.

• Your customers and stakeholders view your organization as “a local organization” wherever they and you may be in the world.

• Your organization is able to sift through local trends and ways of doing things to identify what has potential on a global scale, and is able to apply global trends and strategies effectively at the local level everywhere in the world.

• As markets rise and fall, you are able to shift resources fluently from one to another so that your overall organization continues to thrive and produce intellectual property that is wanted and needed throughout the world.

In other words, being global assures that you act as and are perceived to be a citizen in every community of the world, that you are able to bring resources to bear when and where there are opportunities, and that you are adept at recognizing and addressing trends in customer needs and wants on a local as well as a global scale. Isn’t this the formula for any successful organization?

These qualities most certainly characterize successful organizations at the local or national level; so, in one regard, globalization is mostly a matter of scope—but what scope it is! When the world’s cultural, ethnic, linguistic, legal, and political differences are all thrown together on one playing board we have a game with moving parts that is more complex than playing three-dimensional chess. Then, just to make it interesting, throw into the mix the differences in financial, educational, and technological means from one country to another—not to mention the challenges of distance and sheer geographical differences—and you have a very intimidating picture, indeed!

Is anyone able to win at such a complex game? Yes, every day. In fact these are the organizations that touch every aspect of our lives, from the products we use and consume to the health care treatment we receive. The global flow of products and services and the ideas they contain are all the result of organizations that have been conceived to satisfy our wants and needs. If they are not global themselves, they are linked in to organizations that are.

The global sharing of ideas and competition among people and organizations on a global scale can and do result in discoveries—including new cures for old diseases, and better products at less cost. Few energy sources are greater than those that can successfully harness the minds and creativity of the six billion human souls that inhabit our planet—or a portion thereof! But of course, globalization is not all sunshine and roses. If your particular product or service is not among the best, then globalization can be a painful experience—as news about plant closings and business failures tell us every day. So the trek toward becoming a global organization can be seen to be as much defensive as it is progressive. If your organization does not find and fill its global niche, then the chances are good that someone else, somewhere else will!

Textbooks typically point out that there are three types of transnational organizations:

1. “International” organizations that operate across national boundaries because they buy or sell internationally, have international meetings or alliances, and serve stakeholders or members from other countries. In international organizations, there is little customization of goods and services for global customers, and the organization’s business and governance structures are highly concentrated on the domestic market. Customers, whether local or global, are treated the same.

2. “Multinational” organizations that have a sustainable and ongoing presence in more than one national market simultaneously. Goods and services may often be customized for a country-by-country market, and the operational and governance structures may be distributed among and within these targeted countries. Local customers, regardless of location, are the priority, but global customers outside of these markets may be supported only with difficulty.

3. “Global” organizations that fulfill all four of the characteristics noted at the beginning of the introduction. Goods and services allow for major customization. The business and governance structures are highly networked and distributed. Customers are supported both locally and globally.

Unless you have merged your organization into another to become global instantaneously, for most, becoming global is a gradual, step-by-step process in which a domestic organization becomes international, then multinational, then global. It is a time-consuming, difficult process, but it is a challenge that this generation cannot refuse. Globalization is something this generation and every generation after us will have to incorporate into their education, mind-set, and day-to-day living. It is the trend that most defines our times. Those people and organizations that adapt to it best are the ones that will reap the most rewards.

Organizations based in smaller countries with advanced economies have a special advantage in that they are used to dealing with foreign languages and cultures. Cross-border transactions are a daily occurrence for them. It is no wonder then that managers from the Netherlands who seem to be multilingual at birth are in much demand as managers in global organizations.

The old joke, told mostly by Europeans, that a person who speaks three languages is called trilingual, a person who speaks two languages is called bilingual, and a person who speaks one language is called, you guessed it—an American—contains a sharp bit of truth. When one is born on a continent where well over 300 million people speak the same language and that constitutes the largest economic market in the world, it is easy to be parochial without seeming to be under-educated! Nevertheless, for this reason, Americans are at a disadvantage when it comes to understanding and operating successfully in a global environment. It is for this reason that this book focuses particularly on the challenges faced by U.S. managers as they grapple with globalization.

This book, of course, also focuses on associations. While the management tactics and strategies that are discussed here could be and are applied to all sorts of organizations, associations have a particularly important role in globalization, for two reasons. First, associations—and that includes trade associations and professional societies (and other individual membership organizations) as well as chambers of commerce—have played a particularly important role by providing the networking contacts and market intelligence small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) have needed in order to expand as rapidly as they have into global markets. As is discussed in the first chapter, SMEs have been the surprise winners in globalization, snatching the prize out from under the noses of the giant but lumbering multinational companies that have not been as nimble in taking advantage of new opportunities in new markets, and associations have a lot to do with this. The second reason why associations deserve special attention is the critical role they can and do play in addressing issues of social responsibility that all too often fall through the cracks between the secular interests of national governments and for profit undertakings. To a large extent, associations are just now coming into their own, and their effectiveness in this current and future role will be largely defined by how well they have learned to navigate in a global environment.

How the Book Is Organized

This book is divided into eight chapters that correspond to those issues or problem areas that naturally crop up whenever a conversation turns to globalization. While sticking to the facts, I also attempt to use personal anecdotes and stories to liven up what some textbooks have turned into a dry topic. Globalization deserves better. It is about flesh and blood, dreams that have been dashed, as well as dreams that have resulted in fabulous success. More importantly, it is about a topic that affects all of us. It defines our time, and how we cope with it will determine the quality of our future.

Here is how we will take this journey:

Chapter 1: Why Go Global?

This chapter addresses the trends, opportunities and threats of globalization for associations and how successful associations have responded. It also addresses the emerging opportunities that are unique to the association community and what associations need to do to ready themselves for these roles.

Chapter 2: Common Problems in the Global Arena

There is enough of a track record now to be able to learn from the successes and failures of others. This chapter attempts to catalog the lessons that have been learned so that others may build on them.

Chapter 3: The Structure of the Globalized Association

This chapter addresses the different stages in cross border transactions from international to multinational to global. It also addresses the different structures that have found to be suitable for organizations of varying means and missions. There are as many variations in globalization as there are organizations, but there are some broad models and lessons that have been learned that might serve to structure and inspire others that have faced or are facing similar challenges.

Chapter 4: Funding and Financing

Even the most altruistic associations need funding to fuel global operations. This chapter focuses on those considerations and how successful associations have addressed them.

Chapter 5: Language and Culture

These are the most obvious differences among international markets, yet language and cultural differences continue to be stumbling blocks for individuals and organizations operating across national borders. This chapter discusses some of the gaffes that can happen and how successful managers avoid making them!

Chapter 6: Endeavors in Specific Countries

This chapter discusses the differences between lesser-developed, developing, and developed economies and how each pose a different set of challenges and opportunities. It also discusses BEMs (big emerging markets) and the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) and the do’s and don’ts of entering those markets.

Chapter 7: Successes and Failures

This chapter discusses successful strategies and models that have been used by associations that have expanded globally.

Chapter 8: Final Thoughts on Truly Becoming “Global”

This chapter discusses the nature of the globalization challenge for association managers and why it is a challenge that no manager can ignore.

Chapter 1

Why Go Global?

Associations are consensus-driven organizations. In this regard, this chapter is designed to provide association leaders the facts and the rationale they need to launch their organizations into a discussion about globalization and how it applies to them. This chapter addresses the following:

• How globalization defines the economic, social, commercial, technological, and political trends of our time.

• How globalization is both a challenge and an opportunity to associations facing declining membership.

• How globalization represents market forces that, if followed, will naturally lead organizations into the global arena.

• The popular belief that globalization is only for large, wealthy organizations.

• Why globalization is ideally suited to the missions of most associations.

• What arguments will support your decision to go global.

• Why now is the right time for associations to play a greater role on the world stage.

Long-Term Implication of Current Trends

This discussion touches on a number of daily trends and concerns that have very long-term implications for us all—individually, organizationally, and nationally. Some of these trends are rising energy costs, increased concern about our carbon footprints, personal quality of life concerns, and generational differences in technology comfort levels.

Certainly, fuel costs and pollution consciousness are having and will continue to have a major impact on consumption and commuting patterns in the United States. In early 2009, the price of a gallon of gasoline in Germany and Turkey—two countries that pay the most for their automobile fuel—was US$11.90. But even outside of these two countries, much of the rest of the world pays at least close to double what Americans currently pay at the pump. Can U.S. price rises be far behind? So as Americans contemplate the near-term possibility of $8-a-gallon gasoline prices, as well as the impact of greenhouse gases (current record-breaking temperatures and bizarre weather patterns are just a foretaste of more to come!), can changing consumer patterns and lifestyle changes be far behind?

Discussion of a shorter workweek that has become more common in the United States has been the subject of passionate debate in France for many years. France currently has a legally mandated 35-hour workweek (along with a minimum of six weeks’ guaranteed vacation time a year) that was designed to address quality-of-life issues and to combat the perceived “race to the bottom” effects of globalization.

But, as Thomas Friedman, author of The World Is Flat, pointed out, Although the French were trying to create a 35-hour workweek, the Indians were busy figuring out how to fit 35 hours into a single workday!

Friedman’s comments proved to be prophetic during a conversation I had with a small business owner in France who prides himself on his concern with quality-of-life issues. Pierre is against what he sees as brutal American-style capitalism and therefore against any rollback of these hard-earned French workers’ rights. I asked Pierre how his own business was doing. Without skipping a beat, he responded happily that his business was doing just fine since he sent most of his production to an affiliate operation in China.

The added dimension in all of these concerns is global. As U.S. fuel prices go up and we turn more corn into ethanol, riots are taking place in Egyptian cities over the rising costs of bread. And as we rationalize how easy it is to telecommute, we come to the same conclusion that professionals in India have reached—telecommuting works! Who knows or cares whether the person on the other end of the fax, email, or telephone call is in India as long as the work gets done? If you don’t think this global dimension affects us all, then you need to think again.

Talent has become a commodity to be bought and sold over the Internet. It used to be that Westerners had a competitive advantage over the rest of the world through their advanced education and training, but as I look at the MBA classes I teach at Johns Hopkins University, I see that the majority of my students are from China, Korea, India, and other countries whose economies are growing at near double-digit rates. When I ask these students what they intend to do with their degrees, their answers have changed over the years. It used to be that they wanted to stay in the United States. Now, most aspire to go home to their own country where their professional opportunities are greater. For some time now businesses have learned they can find good, English-speaking, U.S.-trained talent in Shanghai, Seoul, and New Delhi who work for salaries that are less than half of their U.S. counterparts and whose access to the Internet is just as effective as those working from their homes in a U.S. suburb.

This is a “Brave New World” that Huxley never envisioned. But it is clear that as we talk about such issues as we do practically every day, we would do well to realize that there are now literally millions of talented, hard-working, well-trained professionals elsewhere in the world who are happy to do our jobs!

Leading the Way in a Flattened World

Professional Standards and Education Grow in Importance

Two books that go a long way to explaining our world, how we got to where we are, and the factors that will determine where we are going are Guns, Germs, and Steel (W. W. Norton & Co., 1999) by Jared Diamond and The World Is Flat (Farrar Straus & Giroux, 2005) by Thomas Friedman.

Readable and well researched, the two works complement each other: Diamond shows how the forces of geology, climate, and natural resources shaped the way civilizations emerged in history, although Friedman portrays the modern world as it has become through technology, trade, and the dominance of free-market economic principles. Both sketch a world and future where the traditional work of non-profit organizations—especially standards setting, education, training, and networking—is and will be key.

Big Questions

Diamond focuses on really big questions. For example, why did European civilization become so dominant in the world? How did it happen that Europeans conquered and colonized the Americas and enslaved Africans—why didn’t the opposite happen?

Diamond demonstrates how the balance of power over the ages has been determined by the available natural resources, such as a moderate climate, cultivable soil, animals that could be domesticated and used for power and transportation, and a geographic position that lends itself to trade or attack from neighbors. His analysis is presented so clearly and his insight so original that each chapter is an “Aha!” moment for the reader.

Friedman then talks about the dawning of a new age, the one in which we are living now, where the traditional shaping forces described by Diamond have been replaced. According to Friedman, the world has been made “flat” through technology and the lowering of philosophical, legal, and economic barriers to travel, trade, and the exchange of ideas.

With the globe’s resources equally available to anyone, anywhere—witness the Chinese purchase of a Canadian oil concern in Latin America, and the success of “virtual” businesses in which global talent as well as goods and services are brought together and exchanged through electronic means—what are the new factors that will determine future balances of power? For Friedman, the new balance of power increasingly resides in the kind and quality of education and training available to any given population group.

In a Flat World

In a “flat” world where there is less and less “friction” in seeking and obtaining the resources to get things done, most of the keys to success can be found in a person’s head. Friedman quotes Bill Gates as stating that, in this world, he would prefer to be born a brilliant person in Mumbai than a person of average abilities in New York.

This was not always the case, of course. Until recently a person, through no credit of his own, could thank his lucky stars to be born in a middle-class family in the United States, because with reasonable effort and discipline, this person could expect a comfortable, hassle-free lifestyle. Now the rules of the game have changed. All things being equal, Friedman asks, who has the advantage when the French are trying to figure out how to shorten their workweek though India is trying to fit a workweek into a single day?

In this fluid, flat world, professional standards and professional education and training are king. These factors are what increasingly will distinguish the “haves” from the “have-nots,” and savvy students, businesses, and consumers know it.

These are the areas where nonprofits typically dominate—or do they? A number of years ago, the Washington Post Company noted that more than 50 percent of its revenues came not from their news operations, but from their for-profit learning centers around the world that focus on helping students and professionals improve their skills. For-profit companies are entering the education and training arena because demand is booming and so are the profits.

Education and training within the framework of professional standards are defining the new balance of power. The association world needs to determine how best to grasp this opportunity because in this newly flattened world, everything must be earned, and competition often comes from unexpected sources.

The Rise of SMEs in the Global Arena

In the early 1990s an interesting phenomenon was noted by certain national government agencies such as the U.S. Department of Commerce and commented on in international business and policy forums such as the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. For the first time since records have been kept, the greatest gains in cross-border commercial transactions were being registered by small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs). Although the large multinational companies (MNCs) in the fields of computer technology, aerospace, and agriculture still accounted for the largest share of world trade, anyone could already see that this would not always be the case if the SMEs continued in this jaw-dropping trend.

How did and do these little companies and the new start-ups do it? They do not have the budget to pay for legions of lawyers and international market researchers, nor do they have employees in offices the world over. Basically there are two answers: the Internet, and their use of and membership in trade associations, professional societies, and chambers of commerce that provide them access to professional and product standards that are recognized internationally, market intelligence, and valuable business contacts.

In fact, it could be argued that the Internet and these many kinds of nonprofit business associations were the first to provide SMEs the tools to take advantage of the new market opportunities that were just opening in central and eastern Europe as well as China and other parts of Asia—even though the larger multinational companies were shackled to their bloated payrolls and brick-and-mortar edifices in markets that were offering only flat or declining returns. The Internet and business associations provided SMEs the low-cost infrastructure support they needed to beat the big guys to new markets in a way and on a scale that has never before happened.

But not all associations realized what a gold mine they were sitting on as they continued to focus their attention on the “old dependables.” Even as wringing their hands at the challenges globalization was bringing to their memberships, many associations did not fathom the clever ways the “smaller” members were using these same resources to catapult themselves into the global arena.

What was also happening in these same associations was that increasing numbers of foreign nationals were realizing that they offered ways into the domestic market as well. By accessing the standards-making and training and networking programs that these associations offered, nationals from developing countries in regions such as Africa, Asia, and Latin America were taking advantage of quick and easy ways to penetrate the markets of the world’s more developed economies. It is no wonder that beginning in the 1990s associations began to see sales of their publications and program attendance for foreign-based customers running at growth trends of more than two to one over their domestic customers. But since the absolute numbers were still relatively low, these trends escaped the attention of most who continued to be preoccupied and worried about the economic changes they were witnessing

Opportunities in the Face of Declining Membership: How to Survive When Dealing with Industry Consolidation

Like the animated cartoon figures that keep on running on thin air over and past a cliff until they suddenly realize there is no longer any ground underneath them, associations often continue functioning in a “business as usual” mode until they realize their traditional membership support is not coming back.

Although it is funny watching the expression on cartoon figures’ faces change the instant before they drop like rocks, it is not so funny watching the decline and fall of associations. As an association leader who might be faced with declining membership due to any of a variety of causes—not the least of which might be due to the effects of the Great Recession—what, if anything, can you do to avoid this fate?

First, you should be reassured that your association is far from being alone when it comes to declining membership. This nearly universal decline in membership, for trade associations and professional societies alike, is due to four overriding trends (note that these trends, in and of themselves have potentially negative consequences for traditionally focused nonprofits. At the same time, they offer new, entrepreneurial positive opportunities for nonprofits that are flexible and quick enough to respond):

• Over the past two decades, a globalizing economy has led to increased levels of mergers and acquisitions in virtually every economic sector. Companies are seeking increased efficiencies and are trying to better position themselves to serve and compete in new markets. Global competitiveness, combined with the recent economic downturn, has led many companies to reduce long-term research budgets, focusing instead on short-term applied research that offers immediate market advantages for their products. This concern with short-term competitiveness has also resulted in reduced or eliminated budgets that formerly supported employee association dues, seminars, events and travel.

• Technology is changing at an ever-increasing rate, causing whole industries to disappear. Computer leasing (others include the fabric industry, materials engineering, etc., have all left the United States and relocated to Asia) is one industry that was thriving in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s when computers were huge and expensive. Now that computers are pocket-sized and affordable, this multimillion-dollar subsector of the leasing industry disappeared virtually overnight. However, technology is also creating new industries (such as in health care with magnetic resonance imaging [MRI] and positron emission tomography [PET] scan equipment manufacturers and users).

• As a communications and information access vehicle, the easy-to-use, inexpensive, and instantaneous Internet has made networking, education and training, business transactions, marketing, and the exchange of ideas affordable and available to virtually everyone. Faced with this reality, it is not unusual that the value and relevance of traditional association membership and face-to-face meetings and events should be increasingly called into question.

• A generational aversion to “joining,” born of watching the upward and downward ties of loyalty dissolve between employer and employee. Many younger staffers believe that loyalty does not pay and financial security is based on networking and having and maintaining the skills set and credentials needed to be relevant in a rapidly changing economy. Among many in the younger generation there is perceived to be no intrinsic value in joining an association; you buy what you want and move on, even if it means paying a nonmember price for an event, publication, training, or other desired product. This perspective has a direct negative impact on association membership recruiting/retention, but offers a new opportunity for marketing to nonmembers.

These trends have certainly created a changed scenario for the association world, but not a totally bleak one. Despite what is happening to the majority, some associations are actually seeing their membership grow. Some associations have indeed benefited from these trends and increased their membership by pursuing niche strategies. Others seem to have resisted the laws of physics and have grown their programs, publications, and finances despite declines in membership.

The niche approach includes growth through acquisition—picking off competing associations that have fallen on hard times—or by creating a new association to serve the needs of a new growth sector in the economy. This approach is not long-term focused—tactical, not strategic. A strategic perspective is needed if an association is to enjoy any sort of security beyond the next few years.

Managers must realize that although the four long-term trends present undeniable challenges, each also presents “critical opportunities,” critical because, to adapt a phrase from The Godfather, these are opportunities you can’t refuse (although it has been shown time and again that volunteer and staff leaders can and do refuse to see and act on these opportunities, preferring to pursue business as usual, waiting for “things to return to normal”). Seeing and acting on these opportunities requires a keen entrepreneurial mind-set and decision making. It certainly takes more than a one-year perspective and set of values by nonprofit leadership. This one-year vision may be the single biggest obstacle for many nonprofits.):

1. Business consolidation is a reality that will continue for the foreseeable future. Rather than pinning their futures on diminishing membership numbers, associations that are thriving are seeking to make themselves indispensable for what they can do that for-profits cannot.

(Many nonprofits justifiably have a respectable “third-party broker” status derived from their ability to bring many diverse interests to the table for resolution and action on key issues.)

Associations can serve as liaisons between government or the public at large and private-sector interests; compile industry-wide statistics on business, social, human resource, and other economic trends; design and promote professional and manufacturing credentials; and serve as a resource for continuing education and training.

Some associations, seeing declines in their traditional U.S. market, are designing globalization strategies of their own—taking their considerable store of intellectual and financial resources into fast growth markets abroad where sister societies have yet to take root.

2. The pace of technological change will only continue to increase, as will its impact on business and professions. Associations that have adapted best to this have made the change part of their culture. They annually undertake top-to-bottom strategic planning, and identify emerging trends. (This trend helps to create value for nonprofits that are in the standards-setting business by continuing to develop and promulgate global standards needed for new technologies to be implemented around the world. Global standards help facilitate international expansion, trade and commerce, as well as education and learning opportunities for individuals, corporations and emerging nation economies. Opportunities for global standards, however, are not limited to technologies; e.g., SHRM is an example of a nonprofit successfully developing global standards in the human resource field.)

3. The Internet’s impact simply cannot be underestimated. Association publications are now available through the Internet. Education and training programs, virtual conferences, and networking through mailing list servers and chat rooms are also important services associations can provide. Online testing and certification services are likely to follow. If your association is not on this train, it should be! (The global Internet has become more than a source for information. It has also become for many persons a source of networking and individual contacts, e.g., Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc. This was formerly one of the greatest assets of traditional nonprofits, i.e., the opportunity to network with those of similar interest, career field, etc.)

4. Associations that are growing the fastest are measuring growth by users/consumers of products and services and not members. Rather than trying to fight this trend of declining membership loyalty, successful associations have defined themselves according to the market they serve and taken steps to ensure they serve it well. (How should nonprofits measure growth and success in the future? Is it by traditional membership head counts? Is it by revenue, either dues-based or non-dues-based? How should future success be defined and measured?)

Outwit, Outplay, Outlast: Today’s Associations Need Creativity, Imagination, and a New Focus to Survive

Several decades ago, a New York City-based business association conducted a critical analysis of its competitive advantages. The association learned that it had a good, nationwide membership base of business leaders who, as a whole, had a profound impact on the nation’s economy.

On the basis of this observation, association staff members developed a periodic survey to find out how these business leaders viewed the economy—were they optimistic or pessimistic? The survey became a benchmark that has a profound impact on the stock markets as well as national fiscal and economic policies. The association’s staff members discovered a competitive advantage that they had been sitting on all along, but until then had never imagined its use in this way.

In this era of rapid economic, technical, social, and political change, nonprofits are entering a season where the inefficient and irrelevant are being winnowed out. In this Darwinian selection process, what factors determine which associations survive?

The organizations that are doing best are those that have adopted a market-focused approach in defining their strategies and structuring their operations. But what has this done to the more traditional “member-focused” strategy that has always constituted the core element of association thinking?