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Growth-share aka BGC matrix and languages | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Expugnator Hexaglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 5164 days ago 3335 posts - 4349 votes  Speaks: Portuguese*, Norwegian, French, English, Italian, Papiamento Studies: Mandarin, Georgian, Russian | Message 1 of 3 26 November 2014 at 9:05pm | IP Logged |
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Being stuck at languages, I decided to take a break and work on an exercise on how to associate a marketing concept and my language studies. Maybe it is good for realizing where I need to work better.
The growth-share matrix (we call it Matriz BCG in Brazil after the Boston Consulting Group) is a chart for managers to evalute how items of their portfolio relate in terms of market growth and makret share. Each quadrant is given a 'nickname' and there are variations, but the most usual names are: Cash cow: products with high market-share at a more-or-less stable market. These are the products that give the company its vitality, its cash. The main concept here is 'low growth but also high returns with low investment'. Dogs: in a slow growing market, they have low share. Question marks: in a high growing market, they have low share. What will become of them? (yes, a question mark) Stars: they look promising: high share in a fast-growing market. Now, how does this apply to languages? I like to think of investment x rewards, and maybe this means I'm working on another matrix instead, but since I may not know how this matrix is called theoretically, I will do the exercise with the terms above. Cash cow: you are at a low growing level for these languages but you're cashing out, as they provide you with a lot of rewarding experiences. You can talk to natives, understand native material, you have a good insight of the other culture. Ideally you'd be there at a C1 level. I believe I can place my French and Papiamento there. I don't learn much each day but what I learn is enough to keep the language going and what is important, with low investment. Dogs: these are the languages you're stuck with, probably at an intermediate level. The fact growing is slow demands you an extra effort/investment just to keep them going and not lose what you've already invested. Nearly all my languages are here: Georgian, Mandarin, Russian. Question marks: it seems easier to break off into this market, but your product may turn either into a cash cow or into a dog. Example: Estonian. It seems easier than the ones that already turned into Dogs, but I'm not sure I can make it into a Cash Cow that soon. My 'share' (geneal knowledge, vocabulary) is low because it's also the first language in that family. Turkish or Indonesian would also fit here, had I started them. Stars: you already have a high share in the market (you know similar language(s)) even before you start. By doing the right investments, you can start milking them out really soon. My bet is for Italian, Spanish, French (I know Portuguese, French and I'm not that bad at Norwegian and German), Esperanto. I know it is confusing, but the idea behind is working on the language portfolio so you don't have to deal with too many 'dogs' at once (like I do now) and so that you learn to make good use of the 'stars' out there and make progress in a way that motivates you to keeping investing into the rest of the portfolio. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4705 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 2 of 3 26 November 2014 at 9:12pm | IP Logged |
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I understand the analogy, but what's the question? What's your goal? I think you need to
focus efforts on one or two things at a time and not to try to do everything at once. So my response is: 1) Tell me what your goals are (so, what language should be where in the matrix?) 2) How big do you estimate the jump is? 3) If the jump is too big to do at once, are there smaller jumps you could take in order to make the big jump? 4) How much do you really need to make certain jumps? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Expugnator Hexaglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 5164 days ago 3335 posts - 4349 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, Norwegian, French, English, Italian, Papiamento Studies: Mandarin, Georgian, Russian | Message 3 of 3 26 November 2014 at 10:11pm | IP Logged |
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Goals is the next step ;D This matrix is still at the strategic level, prior to goals. I shared it because I thought
others could find it helpful. There is a lot I need to evaluate and plan for the next year if I want to reach consistent growth indeed. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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