http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-10-05/intel-chairman-says-board-diversity-must-reflect-global-markets.html
Intel has been a very smart company over the years. They recognized that their product would be a challenge to sell since it is never directly seen by the consumer, so they came up with the "Intel Inside" campaign, which was brilliant and has been wildly successful. Now it would seem that Intel is demonstrating, in just one more way, the kinds of smart decisions that have allowed them to be an industry leader for so long.
This article discusses how Intel Corp. Chairman Jane Shaw stated that Intel is looking to increase diversity on their board of directors. This is because Intel is seeing rapid growth in China, a market that continues to look promising for some time to come. However, while Intel has a large market share in China, they do not have anyone from China represented on their board of directors. This means the viewpoint that the board has is skewed and does not accurately reflect the opinions and concerns of all their stakeholders or consumers. I like that Shaw is looking to diversify the board in attempts to better understand the developing Chinese market and learn how to appeal to it.
Since one of my majors is marketing, I have studied the subject a fair amount by this point in my academic career, and have come to the realization that it is difficult to create advertisements that are geared towards specific target audiences without having an in-depth knowledge of that market. If one is creating an advertisement for a target audience that they belong to, it is rather simple to understand the target audience and create ads with sincerity that demonstrate to the consumer the value of the product. However, if one does not belong to the target audience they are advertising to, it becomes a temptation to assume things one shouldn't, and then mistakes are made. It is invaluable to have a diverse team of people in these situations so that one will have a better idea of how to market to that specific target audience. Shaw has done an excellent job of not assuming that she understands her Chinese stockholders and the market over there. Instead, she desires to bring more diversity to the board, this is prudent. Diversity adds new levels of perception and creativity to any team and that is certainly a worthy goal for Intel to be pursuing with the Board of Directors.
In conclusion, if one assumes that they can make good decisions for groups that they are unfamiliar with, then that person will most likely inadvertently make decisions that have negative consequences for the organization. However, with diverse team, one greatly increases their likelihood for coming up with better solutions.
Josh Throop
I agree that not having a board member from China would probably skew the viewpoint. Assuming that we understand how other people live their lives is one of the main problems with lack of diversity and I think this article shows that the more diversity a company has the better chance at success to meet its customers needs will result.
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