The Big Society at Alexika

UK Prime Minister David Cameron launched his big idea yesterday – The Big Society. We are not going to comment on politics here – but how new is this idea?

Every year in our community in the North of England, there is a summer festival known as a Gala. This involves for example decorating houses and businesses, community groups parading through the town in costume, lots of food and drink and a race to the top of the nearest hill...something for all ages.

The theme this year was 'The Movies' - and we're delighted to report 2 pieces of success for Alexika at the Gala! Alexika's office was placed second in the competition for best dressed business frontage. The office frontage was dressed in the theme of Mary Poppins - complete with models of the main characters from the film with Mary herself flying from a top floor window! Well done to Sabine for her imagination on that project and to Becky for the support.


We also had an outright Gala winner though! Translations Coordinator Helen is also leader of a Brownie pack (girl's youth group.) Helen led her troupe to success as the best procession group with the theme of 101 Dalmatians - with Helen leading the pack as Cruella de Vil!! Wonderful work Helen, and we thought you were enjoying the character a little too much!

Alexika is a sponsor of the Gala, and is also proud to be one of the sponsors of Addingham cricket club this year, where Mark is Junior Chairman. The club has 130 junior members ranging from ages 6-17. There are 500 cricket clubs in the Yorkshire region of the North of England, and each plays an important role in their local community and provides a focal point for young people in particular. For our continental European readers, please ask if you would like an explanation of the rules of this fine summer sport - but you mind need to set aside a spare hour or two!

Alexika is also a sponsor of the Addingham pantomime, a peculiarly English – and very stylised – form of comedy theatre. Hours and hours of volunteer time go in to producing 8 performances to a packed theatre.

CSR for SMEs? Small and medium-sized companies also contribute to society in many ways.

Thoughts from ITI Marketing Workshop - the role of translation distributors

Many thanks to the ITI for having me as a speaker at the recent Marketing Workshop event in York.

We had some interesting discussions about the translation company/freelance translator relationship. Freelancer translators have a choice in their business life - they can work for client companies directly and/or they can work for 'distributors' such as translation companies. This situation is perhaps more commonly known in manufacturing industries than the service sector, but in both cases there are situations when either option is appropriate. Reasons for working for a distributor in this case might include:

- a strong relationship means that only appropriate work should be offered by a translation company
- the end client receives an enhanced service as the translation company may undertake preparation, checking and proofreading tasks
- freelance translators are left to focus on what they do best, using linguistic skills rather than business skills.

And for client purchasers of translations, reasons to purchase from a company rather than an individual might include:

- ease of purchase from one source for a range of languages and language services
- project management for multilingual requirements
- the knowledge that a subject specialist translator can be selected for different types of assignment

Perhaps the most interesting area of discussion of the day was around a thought from Ana Simkins of Applied Language, suggesting that the rise of the internet means that loyalty and relationships are becoming less important in business. Competitors are now only a mouse-click away. Fair point - but in a very fragmented industry such as translation, buyers may not know where to go for a particular service, and a relationship with a valued and trusted supplier can be more important than ever? Probably a question of different situations in different sectors of our translation world.

So thanks again ITI - and the National Railway Museum is a great venue for a conference.

I was pleased to recommend Malcolm MacDonald's 6th Edition of his book 'Marketing Plans' as a thorougly practical guide to marketing planning for all types of business.

Mark