Dog Poo and the French Economy
What could dog-poo and the economy possibly have in common? "Of course nothing" would say the heedless reader, the same who contemptuously laughs at the late Edward Lorenz' Butterfly Effect or other Chaos Theory: the airflow of the flapping of a butterfly wing could, conceptually at least, relate to the generation of a greater atmospheric movement of a storm somewhere in the world. Same medium at least, just different scales. But, dog-poo and Economy? That is a long stride... Well! Do contemplate the following steps.
Born in the canine loving country, home of the French poodle, I spent many decades out of this paradise for the Breton spaniel. With my three children, born in various other pooch sensitive countries, we visited this basset heaven relatively often. Rarely did we evade the unexpected close and shitty (this is a description here, not the offensive term) confrontations with bitches' output. Due to the lack of French street smart, we tended to multiply these very close encounters of the canine kind. So much so that the children adopted for the nation of Pasteur, the name "Dog-Poo Country". Truly, the issue is not equally spread, besides by our feet, across the country. Southern cities have a much critical problem of the number of visible depots and nose challenges. The reason is not a worse behavior of dog owners there, but simply aligned to atmospheric changes. A lot of rain in the "above the Loire river" cities tends to wash out the small problems, which softens or hardens peacefully in the south, allowing the full power of the aroma to diffuse to the unwary local population. To the defense of my former compatriots, there is no national law. However there are numerous local decrees. So far, I have yet to find one person aware of a decree, or having been the beneficiary of a fine.
So what? France has a canine dejection problem! Its citizens do not seem to mind walking in excrement. This cannot slow down an economy. Streets are much cleaner now than they were in Middle Ages when rats and pigs roamed city streets. That did not prevent tremendous development. France itself benefitted from the "30 Glorieuses" years of double-digit growth in the 50th.
Yes to all this, but growth has slowed down to a halt. World competition is not bipolar anymore, but comes from many sides, Asia, the Americas, Africa, and even within Europe. Today, in order to grow, a country must be very good at something: very cheap, very flexible, very fast, very specialized, very... something. The French Economy is certainly not "very" anything: Not cheap, not flexible, not fast, not that good in many things (except in bread, wine and cheese... and apparently, well, dog-poo..). Under the double-digit growth of the 70s', it became the leader of real and perceived social improvements. Too busy apparently to watch over its steps, it did not notice the changes in the world, and kept multiplying burdens over the last few decades with a 35 hours week, increased taxes, earlier retirements, when everyone was reversing to more competitive social features. With 25% of the country employed as public servants, the highest rate in Europe by far, it is highly mobilized to perpetuate this situation, oblivious to the changes in the world. Unfortunately, past and current governments, blinded by past glorious history, have been selling the only remaining solution: France just needs to make higher-value, higher quality products. Simple!
Unfortunately, only the French can believe this. Quality for example has two components at least. The real measurable quality, and the buyer's perceived quality. Either way, it is not something an economically challenged, administrative tradition bound government can decree. Real measurable quality, in this competitive world, must tickle one hundred percent. To achieve an incremental advantage, everything and everyone must attempt to reach this tangent at every level, for every step. Total Quality Management (TQM) and many other methods focus on the less-visible side of quality such as training, cleanliness of every corner of the factory. Customer's perceived quality is an even more arduous goal. It is gained through a long record of good quality production. It is influenced by perceived extraneous factors such as the image of the location where the factory lies; quality of other products from similar origins; attitudes of the inhabitants; and vision of the culture the product comes from. Perceived quality is gained over many years of flawless performance of the product in question, but mostly of all the products perceived to come from the same culture. It can be lost quickly with a few highly visible mishaps from any of the other "culture-bound” products. Germany and Japan for example have built this aura of highly qualitative countries. They both are perceived as greatly clean, rigid, with law-bidding citizens. France, on the other hand, suffers from a glorious past which unpredictably burdens the perceived quality, as millions of tourists come to visit historical landmark of toilet-less palaces, and buy one of France's token commodity, perfumes, which, unfortunately is the mark of an hygiene-challenged society portrayed in many Hollywood films.
By now, you must have made the link between dog-poo and France's economy. Without any desired option to change, or achieve any other "very-something" parameter, it wants to focus on higher quality. How can you expect citizens accepting to walk in dog-doo in their own neighborhood to maintain a sparkling workplace? How can you expect citizens who cannot follow simple logical laws or decrees to adhere to the very strict, permanent factory rules with long term unclear effects? How can you expect citizens, who accept lenient or blind authorities, to welcome monitored and controlled operations and requirements? And mostly, how do you expect your future customers, slaloming across poo-sparkled "trottoirs" to believe that, inside the factory, everything will be glistening clean?
Instead of high-healed shoes, for the next fashion show on the fancy Faubourg-Saint Honoré, the Gautiers and Lagerfelds of this world should probably focus on good farmer boots. It would not make much difference for the textile industries whose sources are rarely local anymore, but it might do a world of good for the economy, by permitting to relieve the focus of the visiting tourists from the sidewalk..... Unless of course, someone manages to change the French Culture.... But that would be greatly more challenging... If you are a visitor: watch your steps! And if you are in France: wake-up and smell the dog-poo!
Born in the canine loving country, home of the French poodle, I spent many decades out of this paradise for the Breton spaniel. With my three children, born in various other pooch sensitive countries, we visited this basset heaven relatively often. Rarely did we evade the unexpected close and shitty (this is a description here, not the offensive term) confrontations with bitches' output. Due to the lack of French street smart, we tended to multiply these very close encounters of the canine kind. So much so that the children adopted for the nation of Pasteur, the name "Dog-Poo Country". Truly, the issue is not equally spread, besides by our feet, across the country. Southern cities have a much critical problem of the number of visible depots and nose challenges. The reason is not a worse behavior of dog owners there, but simply aligned to atmospheric changes. A lot of rain in the "above the Loire river" cities tends to wash out the small problems, which softens or hardens peacefully in the south, allowing the full power of the aroma to diffuse to the unwary local population. To the defense of my former compatriots, there is no national law. However there are numerous local decrees. So far, I have yet to find one person aware of a decree, or having been the beneficiary of a fine.
So what? France has a canine dejection problem! Its citizens do not seem to mind walking in excrement. This cannot slow down an economy. Streets are much cleaner now than they were in Middle Ages when rats and pigs roamed city streets. That did not prevent tremendous development. France itself benefitted from the "30 Glorieuses" years of double-digit growth in the 50th.
Yes to all this, but growth has slowed down to a halt. World competition is not bipolar anymore, but comes from many sides, Asia, the Americas, Africa, and even within Europe. Today, in order to grow, a country must be very good at something: very cheap, very flexible, very fast, very specialized, very... something. The French Economy is certainly not "very" anything: Not cheap, not flexible, not fast, not that good in many things (except in bread, wine and cheese... and apparently, well, dog-poo..). Under the double-digit growth of the 70s', it became the leader of real and perceived social improvements. Too busy apparently to watch over its steps, it did not notice the changes in the world, and kept multiplying burdens over the last few decades with a 35 hours week, increased taxes, earlier retirements, when everyone was reversing to more competitive social features. With 25% of the country employed as public servants, the highest rate in Europe by far, it is highly mobilized to perpetuate this situation, oblivious to the changes in the world. Unfortunately, past and current governments, blinded by past glorious history, have been selling the only remaining solution: France just needs to make higher-value, higher quality products. Simple!
Unfortunately, only the French can believe this. Quality for example has two components at least. The real measurable quality, and the buyer's perceived quality. Either way, it is not something an economically challenged, administrative tradition bound government can decree. Real measurable quality, in this competitive world, must tickle one hundred percent. To achieve an incremental advantage, everything and everyone must attempt to reach this tangent at every level, for every step. Total Quality Management (TQM) and many other methods focus on the less-visible side of quality such as training, cleanliness of every corner of the factory. Customer's perceived quality is an even more arduous goal. It is gained through a long record of good quality production. It is influenced by perceived extraneous factors such as the image of the location where the factory lies; quality of other products from similar origins; attitudes of the inhabitants; and vision of the culture the product comes from. Perceived quality is gained over many years of flawless performance of the product in question, but mostly of all the products perceived to come from the same culture. It can be lost quickly with a few highly visible mishaps from any of the other "culture-bound” products. Germany and Japan for example have built this aura of highly qualitative countries. They both are perceived as greatly clean, rigid, with law-bidding citizens. France, on the other hand, suffers from a glorious past which unpredictably burdens the perceived quality, as millions of tourists come to visit historical landmark of toilet-less palaces, and buy one of France's token commodity, perfumes, which, unfortunately is the mark of an hygiene-challenged society portrayed in many Hollywood films.
By now, you must have made the link between dog-poo and France's economy. Without any desired option to change, or achieve any other "very-something" parameter, it wants to focus on higher quality. How can you expect citizens accepting to walk in dog-doo in their own neighborhood to maintain a sparkling workplace? How can you expect citizens who cannot follow simple logical laws or decrees to adhere to the very strict, permanent factory rules with long term unclear effects? How can you expect citizens, who accept lenient or blind authorities, to welcome monitored and controlled operations and requirements? And mostly, how do you expect your future customers, slaloming across poo-sparkled "trottoirs" to believe that, inside the factory, everything will be glistening clean?
Instead of high-healed shoes, for the next fashion show on the fancy Faubourg-Saint Honoré, the Gautiers and Lagerfelds of this world should probably focus on good farmer boots. It would not make much difference for the textile industries whose sources are rarely local anymore, but it might do a world of good for the economy, by permitting to relieve the focus of the visiting tourists from the sidewalk..... Unless of course, someone manages to change the French Culture.... But that would be greatly more challenging... If you are a visitor: watch your steps! And if you are in France: wake-up and smell the dog-poo!