#Market analysis framework

[marketxcel]

How to Build a Strong B2B Market Research Plan

Learn how to create a robust B2B market research plan from scratch. Explore strategies, tools, and best practices to drive informed decisions and business growth.

[abhibaj]

What is Product-Market Fit? How To Find It in 3 Steps

In today’s dynamic markets, achieving a product-market fit framework has become more than just a milestone; it’s the heartbeat of successful businesses. It is not a one-size-fits-all concept; it’s about creating a product that customers can’t live without. In this customer-centric journey, we explore the significance of product marketing strategy, market segmentation strategies, competitive analysis tools, and key metrics revolving around customer satisfaction and retention.

Why Product-Market Fit Matters for Customers

Understanding your target audience's needs and desires is crucial in sales and marketing. Investing resources without ensuring a genuine market need can lead to a disconnect with customers. Lack of a product-market fit framework may result in challenging conversations and survival struggles. Market fit goes beyond revenue milestones; it's about becoming an integral part of customers' lives.

Get full insights: https://itechseries.com/blog/unlock-the-product-market-fit-code/

Furthermore, product-market fit serves as a guiding compass in a world overflowing with ideas. It helps in focusing your efforts and aligning strategically, refining positioning and messaging for resonance in the market and building brand awareness.

1. Strategies for Customer-Centric Market Fit Success

Define your target customer: Conduct comprehensive research to define specific customer personas, understanding their needs, preferences, and capabilities to structure your product effectively.

Identify underserved customer needs: Dive deep into the problem and solution spaces to uncover unique features that address customer needs directly, employing effective segmentation strategies.

Define the value proposition: Clearly articulate how your product adds value and differentiates itself, ensuring it aligns with customer expectations and addresses real problems.

Build the MVP feature set: Develop the Minimal Viable Product (MVP) based on functionality, reliability, usability, and delightfulness, meeting the needs and intentions of your target customers.

Create MVP prototype and test to iterate: Launch the MVP, gather feedback, and iterate to improve based on user insights, ensuring continuous enhancement of the product.

2. Measuring Customer Satisfaction and Retention

Monitoring key metrics that revolve around customer satisfaction and retention is crucial to gauging the effectiveness of your lead generation, aligning with your gtm strategy.

Bounce rate: The bounce rate, indicating whether visitors stay on your product website, is critical for growth. A high bounce rate suggests a mismatch with customer expectations.

Net promoter score (NPS): Use NPS as a valuable tool to obtain direct user feedback through a questionnaire-based survey.

Customer lifetime value (CLV): CLV represents the average profit derived from each customer throughout their entire product usage period.

Lead vs customers: Identifying leads and converting them into customers is crucial for ensuring your product is competitive and stands out.

Customer retention ratio: The proportion of clients kept for a given time indicates customer loyalty and satisfaction.

3. Real-World Success Stories

Examining successful examples underscores the importance of adaptation and persistence in market alignment:

User-pilot: Adapted features based on customer needs, evolving from an onboarding tool to a comprehensive adoption solution.

Slack: Pivoted to meet communication needs, showcasing adaptability to market demands.

Dropbox: Solved file synchronization needs, ensuring market fit through effective branding and awareness campaigns.

Empowering Product-Market Fit Success with iTech Series

In the ever-evolving landscape of technology, iTech Series stands as a steadfast partner to marketing leaders. Leveraging our profound expertise in content amplification and lead generation, we specialize in bridging the gap between tech brands and B2B tech decision-makers. By operating renowned platforms like MarTechSeries, AiThority, CIO Influence, HRTech Series, Global FinTech Series, and SalesTech Star, iTech Series is a vital resource for neophytes and seasoned technology professionals globally.

Our tailored content syndication and lead generation services are invaluable for tech companies striving to achieve product-market fit. iTech Series provides insightful content through well-researched articles and facilitates engaging interviews with top industry minds. By partnering with us, tech enterprises can amplify their brand content, connect with decision-makers, and seamlessly navigate the path to success. iTech Series is not just a publication; it’s a strategic ally for tech companies on their journey to market success.

Follow for more info: https://www.itechseries.com/

Conclusion 

In pursuing a product-market fit, one must emphasize the importance of customer-centric strategies for b2b brand awareness. You achieve and cultivate lasting relationships by understanding your customers, meeting their needs, and continually iterating based on their feedback, which is essential for a successful go-to-market strategy. In a landscape where customer loyalty is a prized asset, putting customers at the core of your product development journey ensures sustained success and growth strategies for customer retention.

[santong]

Will Artificial Intelligence Replace Most Jobs

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a ubiquitous term, woven into the fabric of our daily lives. From the moment we wake up to a smart alarm on an AI-powered phone to the personalized recommendations on our favorite streaming service, AI’s influence is undeniable. But perhaps the most significant question surrounding AI is its impact on the future of work. Will AI replace most jobs, leaving a…

[medicaldevicesindustrynews]

Compressed Air Energy Storage Market is Led by the Energy Management Category

The compressed air energy storage market was about USD 6,027.4 million in 2023, and it will reach USD 26,605.3 million by 2030, powering at a rate of 23.7% by the end of this decade.This is credited to the surge in the population and the subsequent surge in the power demand. As per the reports, global energy consumption increased from about 122.8 TWh in 2000 to more than 178.8 TWh in 2022. The…

[market-insider]

Water and Wastewater Treatment Equipment Market, Analyzing Market Forces, Technological Advancements, and Environmental Impacts

The global water and wastewater treatment equipment market size is anticipated to reach USD 90.0 billion by 2030, registering a CAGR of 4.6% over the forecast period, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. The market is driven by increasing demand for clean and safe water in both developed and emerging economies. This is due to growing concerns over water pollution and scarcity, and the need for effective wastewater management.

Water And Wastewater Treatment Equipment Market Report Highlights

Asia Pacific accounted for the largest revenue share of the global market in 2023, accounting for 35.1%, and is expected to maintain its dominance throughout the forecast period. This can be attributed to the presence of a strong consumer base that has led to significant demand for water and wastewater treatment equipment

By application, the municipal segment dominated the market with a revenue share of 66.0% in 2023. The increasing initiatives undertaken by governments, strict environmental regulations, and increasing awareness regarding water treatment are some of the factors contributing to the growth of the municipal segment over the forecast period

By process, the tertiary treatment segment dominated the market with a revenue share of 44.2% in 2023. Some of the drivers for the increasing demand for tertiary wastewater treatment are environmental protection, water scarcity, and the increasing demand for clean water. As these issues continue to be major concerns across the world, the demand for tertiary wastewater treatment is expected to grow over the forecast period

Major key players frequently engage in mergers & acquisitions and new product launches to maintain their market shares. For instance, in March 2022, Pentair plc, announced the definitive agreement to acquire Manitowoc Ice. The move was taken by the company to enhance its commercial water solutions platform and cater to the demand from the food service industry

For More Details or Sample Copy please visit link @: Water And Wastewater Treatment Equipment Market Report

Furthermore, the demand for decentralized wastewater treatment systems is expected to increase over the projected period, as these systems offer several advantages such as low operating costs, high treatment efficiency, and easy maintenance. Several companies are focusing on developing innovative decentralized wastewater treatment systems that can be easily installed in residential and commercial buildings.

Population growth, urbanization, increasing industrialization, and the need for clean water for various purposes such as drinking, agriculture, and industrial processes all drive demand for water and wastewater treatment equipment. Government regulations aimed at protecting the environment and ensuring public health also have an impact on the demand for water and wastewater treatment equipment.

The market players are constantly undertaking strategic initiatives such as mergers, acquisitions, partnerships, and new product launches to gain a competitive advantage. For instance, Ceco Environmental, a provider of air pollution control solutions, announced the acquisition of Compass Water Solutions, a provider of water and wastewater treatment equipment. The acquisition will enable Ceco Environmental to integrate Compass Water Solutions’ critical engineered solutions with its industrial water capabilities.

WaterAndWastewaterTreatmentEquipmentMarket #WaterAndWastewaterTreatmentEquipment #WaterTreatment #WastewaterManagement #EnvironmentalEngineering #SustainableTechnology #CleanWaterSolutions #IndustrialWaterTreatment #WaterPurification #GreenInfrastructure #InnovationInWaterManagement #WaterQualityControl #WastewaterRecycling #MarketTrends #EnvironmentalCompliance #SmartWaterTechnologies #RegulatoryFrameworks #EcoFriendlySolutions #EmergingTechnologies #ResourceRecovery

[researchers-me]

Unveiling the Power of Brand Positioning Research

Unlock the secrets to market dominance with our comprehensive guide on Brand Positioning Research. Dive into strategic insights, uncover untapped opportunities, and elevate your brand to new heights. Harness the power of positioning for success. Get your copy now and revolutionize your brand's impact!

[well-educatedmillennial]

Strategic Planning Frameworks: Tools for Business Success

Strategic planning frameworks like SWOT, Porter's Five Forces & PESTLE analysis provide indispensable tools to analyze your market. Use them to identify opportunities & craft strategies. #strategy #businessgrowth

In the ever-evolving world of business, the bridge between ambition and achievement is often built on the foundation of strategic planning. This vital discipline is more than simply charting a course – it aligns a company’s unique strengths with emerging market opportunities. Strategic frameworks are at the heart of this process, providing indispensable tools that offer structured pathways for…

[kc22invesmentsblog]

How Wall Street Makes Money Legally: Understanding the Revenue Streams and Regulatory Framework

Written by Delvin Wall Street, the financial hub centered in New York City, is a bustling hub of activity where various firms and individuals engage in revenue-generating activities. While there are specific variations among firms, this blog post will explore the common ways in which Wall Street makes money. Additionally, we will delve into the regulatory framework that governs Wall Street,…

[electronalytics]

Landscape Lighting Power Supply Market Research,Trends, Opportunities, Key Growth, Trends, Forecasts Outlook by 2032

Market Overview:

The market for power supplies for outdoor lighting applications, specifically for landscape lighting, is referred to as the landscape lighting power supply market within the lighting industry. The beauty and practicality of outdoor areas, such as gardens, parks, business landscapes, and architectural buildings, are improved by landscape lighting.

Landscape Lighting Power Supply Market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.0% from 2023 to 2030 to reach USD 28.42 billion by 2030.

Overview: The Landscape Lighting Power Supply market is driven by various factors that contribute to its growth and demand. Here is an overview of the market and its

key factors:

 Growing Emphasis on Outdoor Aesthetics

Developments in Lighting Technology

Energy Efficiency and Sustainability

Developments in Lighting Technology

Demand: Numerous factors, such as the growing use of landscape lighting in residential and commercial projects, the demand for energy-efficient lighting options, the rise in interest in outdoor aesthetics, and the development of smart lighting systems, all contribute to the demand for landscape lighting power supply solutions. The need for landscape lighting and the associated power supply solutions is anticipated to increase as outdoor spaces are increasingly used for a variety of activities.

We recommend referring our Stringent datalytics firm, industry publications, and websites that specialize in providing market reports. These sources often offer comprehensive analysis, market trends, growth forecasts, competitive landscape, and other valuable insights into this market.

You can investigate the availability of particular reports linked to this market by going to our website or getting in touch with us directly. We offer thorough and in-depth information that might be helpful for businesses, investors, and individuals interested in this industry, but these reports frequently need a purchase or membership.

“Remember to look for recent reports to ensure you have the most current and relevant information.”

Click Here, To Get Free Sample Report: https://stringentdatalytics.com/sample-request/landscape-lighting-power-supply-market/10053/

Market Segmentations:

Global Landscape Lighting Power Supply Market: By Company

• Changzhou Chuanglian Power Technology Co., Ltd.

• IBS Electronics

• Kay Lighting

• Lite the Nite

• MOSO Electronics

• Q-Tran

• TechnoMagnet

• Venus Manufacturing

Global Landscape Lighting Power Supply Market: By Type

• Less Than 12V

• Other

Global Landscape Lighting Power Supply Market: By Application

• Business

• Residential

• Other

Global Landscape Lighting Power Supply Market: Regional Analysis

The worldwide Landscape Lighting Power Supply market's regional analysis sheds light on how the market has performed in various parts of the world. The following nations are included in the geographical analysis of the market report for landscape lighting power supply:

North America: The North America region includes the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. The U.S. is the largest market for Landscape Lighting Power Supply in this region, followed by Canada and Mexico. The market growth in this region is primarily driven by the presence of key market players and the increasing demand for the product.

Europe: The Europe region includes Germany, France, U.K., Russia, Italy, Spain, Turkey, Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, and Rest of Europe. Germany is the largest market for Landscape Lighting Power Supply in this region, followed by the U.K. and France. The market growth in this region is driven by the increasing demand for the product in the automotive and aerospace sectors.

Asia-Pacific: The Asia-Pacific region includes Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, China, Japan, India, South Korea, and Rest of Asia-Pacific. China is the largest market for Landscape Lighting Power Supply in this region, followed by Japan and India. The market growth in this region is driven by the increasing adoption of the product in various end-use industries, such as automotive, aerospace, and construction.

Middle East and Africa: The Middle East and Africa region includes Saudi Arabia, U.A.E, South Africa, Egypt, Israel, and Rest of Middle East and Africa. The market growth in this region is driven by the increasing demand for the product in the aerospace and defense sectors.

South America: The South America region includes Argentina, Brazil, and Rest of South America. Brazil is the largest market for Landscape Lighting Power Supply in this region, followed by Argentina. The market growth in this region is primarily driven by the increasing demand for the product in the automotive sector.

 Visit Report Page for More Details: https://stringentdatalytics.com/reports/landscape-lighting-power-supply-market/10053/

Reasons to Purchase Landscape Lighting Power Supply Market Report:

• To gain insights into market trends and dynamics: this reports provide valuable insights into industry trends and dynamics, including market size, growth rates, and key drivers and challenges.

• To identify key players and competitors: this research reports can help businesses identify key players and competitors in their industry, including their market share, strategies, and strengths and weaknesses.

Overall, market research reports provide businesses and organizations with valuable information that can help them make informed decisions and stay competitive in their industry. They can provide a solid foundation for business planning, strategy development, and decision-making.

About US:

Stringent Datalytics offers both custom and syndicated market research reports. Custom market research reports are tailored to a specific client's needs and requirements. These reports provide unique insights into a particular industry or market segment and can help businesses make informed decisions about their strategies and operations.

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[hazeltongzhi]

How does one argue against, for the lack of a better word, materialist defenses of capitalism (like for example "capitalist countries have higher GDP than noncapitalist countries, which means they're Better"). I used to appeal to morality when critiquing capitalism to some success in the past, but now I've been reading Real Theory more and speaking with more educated people, now I have zero faith in my ability to properly critique capitalist ideology without falling back on moralistic arguments. How does one avoid moralistic thinking, especially when talking with one not already versed in materialism?

While appeals to morality do work on some, it won't work on everyone and it sits on relatively shaky ground compared to scientific explanations. Before you do any convincing or arguing remember to know your audience. Trying to convince some bourgeoisie to support socialism won't work since it's asking them to abandon their class interests. 9 times out of 10, this simply won't work (once in a blue moon, you'll get a class traitor but don't rely on it). Do a proper class analysis of your audience before continuing.

In short, you need to scientifically and rigorously study and understand socialism, as it has and currently exists; from the Paris Commune to the PRC.

You have to know the total steel output of China in 1949 versus 2023. I kid, but understanding how the living standards of a country improved under socialism is crucial to add context. You have to understand the metrics that capitalist economists use and why they're inadequate. You have to be able to replace that with a metric that actually matters to everyday people; average lifespan, child mortality rate, electrification rate, poverty rate (not defined by IMF or world bank metrics), literacy rate, home ownership rate, etc., etc..

Another important skill is being able to identify, understand, and provide solutions for the contradictions under capitalism is also incredibly important. Anyone, including the defenders of capitalism, say that the capitalist mode of production has flaws. The question, then, is to propose a solution. For example, houselessness is an ever increasingly acute problem faced by advanced liberal democracies across the globe. The liberal answer is that this is a supply issue as having more supply should drive down the price. However, pointing out that having more supply simply makes it so that those with the economic power to purchase units will snap up those excess supply and return the market to the same equilibrium. The socialist solution, then, is to abolish the commodification of housing, getting rid of landlords or having rent caps, nationalizing developers, etc..

For most people you encounter, assuming they're proletarians, you will have to teach them the basics of materialist analysis. That means breaking them out of liberalism. To do this, you yourself need a solid understanding of dialectical materialism and historical materialism, the foundational framework of analysis for Marxism. The basics of which, being able to recognize distinct classes, their material needs, how these needs conflict with each other, and what material actions each class does to try and resolve these needs. To start breaking someone out of liberalism, you have to be able to identify and attack liberalism as an ideology. Point out how it fails to explain the world then replace it with scientific socialism. For example, liberalism posits that problems with greed, e.g. billionaires and companies exploiting workers more and more is that individual billionaires or companies are the problem and that by replacing those individuals, those systematic issues will be fixed. You have to show that those individuals act that way because the profit motive forces them to; that if they fail to bring in profit, they will be sacked by the investors or board of directors for someone who is willing to exploit. Then show that these are the material reasons for why bourgeoisie exploit, instead of inherent evilness or some immaterial thing.

It is not an easy or quick process and I myself took several years to read and learn before I started coming out in full offense on the side of scientific socialism. But this process is necessary in order to agitate, organize, and fight for a proletarian future.

[transmutationisms]

serious question but do you personally believe there is a way to approach psychiatry in a way that uplifts and upholds patient autonomy and wellness or is the entire trade essentially fucked haha. Btw this is an ask coming from a 3rd year med student—with a background of severe mental illness—who is considering a residency in psychiatry after receiving life-saving care in high school pertaining to said conditions. (I have peers who have been involuntarily hospitalized and treated horribly in psych wards, with approaches i patently disagree with, but was lucky not to experience. I don’t like modern american medicine’s approach to mental illness; “throw pills” at it to “make it go away” ie. a problem of overprescribing, inadequate and non-holistic approach to mental health, and i feel a lot of that can be attributed to the capitalistic framework. I also def agree with you that so much of what can be considered normal human responses to traumatic events/normal human suffering can be unnecessarily pathologized—a great example being the whole “chemical imbalances in the brain is the ONLY reason why im like this” argument that ive unfortunately fallen hard for when i was younger and am still currently dismantling within myself…and like dont even get me started on this field’s history of demonizing POC, women, LGBT, etc). Like i deeply love my psych rotations so far, and i utterly feel in my gut that this is the manner in which i would like to help people—a lot of whom are just like me—but im wondering if there is a way to reconcile these aspects in a way that one can feel morally okay participating within such an imperfect system, in ur opinion… ngghhhhhh i just want to be a good doctor to my patients…

(ps i love all ur writing and analysis on succession!! big fan mwah <333)

i don't mean to sound unduly pissy at you, specifically, but i do have to say: every single time i've talked about antipsych or broader criticism of medicine on this website, i immediately get a wave of responses like this, from doctors/nurses/psychs/students of the above, asking me to, like, reassure them that they're not doing something immoral or un-communist or whatever by having or pursuing these jobs. and it's honestly frustrating. why is it that these conversations get re-framed around this particular line of inquiry and medical ego-soothing? why is it that when i say "the medical encounter is not structured to protect patient autonomy or well-being," so many people hear something more along the lines of "doctors are mean and i wish they were nicer"? why is it that it's impossible to discuss the philosophical and structural violence of academic and clinical medicine without it becoming a referendum on the individual morality of doctors?

i'm choosing to read you in good faith because i think it's possible to re-re-frame this line of questioning to demonstrate to you the sorts of critiques and inquiries i find more interesting and more conducive to patient autonomy and liberation. so, let me pick apart a few lines of this ask.

"is the entire trade essentially fucked?"

if you're thinking of trying to 'reform' the project of medical psychology within existing infrastructures and institutions, then yeah, it's fucked. if you're still assuming that affective distress can only be 'treated' within this medical apparatus (despite, again, no psychiatric dx satisfying any pathologist's understanding of a 'disease' ie an aberration from 'normal' physiological functioning) then you're not challenging the things that actually make psychiatry violent. you're simply fantasising about making the violence nicer.

"I don’t like modern american medicine’s approach to mental illness; “throw pills” at it to “make it go away” ie. a problem of overprescribing, inadequate and non-holistic approach to mental health, and i feel a lot of that can be attributed to the capitalistic framework."

i hate when i talk about psychotropic drugs being marketed to patients using lies like the chemical imbalance myth, and then pushed on patients—including through outright force—by psychiatrists, and the discussion gets re-framed as one about 'overprescribing'. my problem is not with people taking drugs. i am, in fact, so pro-drugs that i think even the ones administered in a clinical setting sometimes have value. my issue is with, again, the provision of misleading or outright false information, the use of force and coercion to put patients on such drugs in order to force social conformity and employability, and the general model of medicine and medical psychology that assumes patients ought to be passive recipients of medical enlightenment rather than active participants in their own treatment who are given the agency to decide when and how to engage with any form of curative or meliorative intervention.

'holistic' medicine and psychiatry do not solve this problem! they are not a paradigm shift because they continue to locate expertise and epistemological authority with the credentialed physician, and to position patients as too sick, stupid, or helpless to do anything but receive and comply with the medical interventions. there are certainly psychotropic drugs that are demonstrably more harmful than others (antipsychotics, for example), and some that are demonstrably prescribed to patients who do not benefit from them and are even harmed by them. conversely, there are certainly forms of intervention besides pharmaceuticals that people may find helpful. but my general critique here is aimed less at haggling over specific methods of intervention, and more at the ideological and philosophical tenets of medicine that cause any interventions to be imposed by force or coercion on patients, then framed as being 'for their own good'. were suffering people given the information and autonomy to actually choose whether and how to engage in any kind of intervention, some might still choose drugs! my position here is not one of moralising drugs, but making the act of taking them one that is freely chosen and available as an option without relying on physician determination of a patient's interests over their own assessment of their needs and wants.

"so much of what can be considered normal human responses to traumatic events/normal human suffering can be unnecessarily pathologized"

true, but don't misunderstand me as saying that drugs or any other form of intervention should be forcibly withheld from those who do want them and are made fully aware of what risks and harms seeking them could entail. again, this would still be an authoritarian model; my critique is aimed at increasing patient autonomy, not at creating equally authoritarian and empowered doctors who just have slightly different treatment philosophies.

"dont even get me started on this field’s history of demonizing POC, women, LGBT, etc"

ok, framing this as "demonisation" tells me that you're not understanding that, again, this is a systemic and structural critique. it is certainly true that a great many doctors currently are, and have historically have been, outright racist, trans/misogynist, ableist, and so on. framing this as a problem of a well-intentioned discipline being corrupted by some assholes is getting it backwards. medicine attracts prejudiced people, not to mention strengthens and promotes these prejudices in its entire training and practice infrastructures, because of its underlying philosophical orientation toward enforcing 'normality' as defined by 18th-century statistics and 19th-century human sciences that explicitly place white, cis, able-bodied european men as the normal ideal that everyone else is inferior to or failing to live up to. doctors who really nicely tell you that you're too fat are still using bmi charts that come from the statistical anthropometry of adolphe quételet and the flawed actuarial calculations of metlife insurance. doctors who really nicely deny you access to transition surgery are still operating under a paradigm that gives the practitioner authority over expressions and embodiments of gender. the issue isn't 'demonisation', it's that medicine and psychiatry explicitly attempt to render judgments about who and what is 'normal' and therefore socially 'healthy', and enforce those standards on patients. this is not a promotion of patient well-being, but of social conformity.

"i deeply love my psych rotations so far, and i utterly feel in my gut that this is the manner in which i would like to help people"

let me ask you a few questions. you say that you like your psych rotations... but how do your patients feel about them? is their autonomy protected? are they in treatment by free choice, and free to leave any time they wish? are they treated as human beings with full self-determination? if you witnessed a situation in which a patient was coerced or forced into a certain treatment, or in which you were not sure whether they were consenting with full knowledge or freedom, would you feel empowered to intervene? or would doing so threaten your career by exposing you to anger and retaliation from your higher-ups? what higher-ups will you be exposed to as a resident, and then as a practicing physician? could you practice in a way that committed fully, 100%, to patient autonomy if you were working at someone else's practice, or in a hospital or clinic? could you, according to current medical guidelines, even if you had your own practice?

when you say "this is the manner in which i would like to help people", what do you mean by "this"? can you define your philosophy of treatment, and the relationship and power dynamic you want to have with any future patients? is it one in which you hold authority over them and see yourself as determining what's in their 'best interests', even over their own expressed wishes? have you connected with patient advocates, psych survivors (other than your friends), and radical psychiatrists and anti-psychiatrists who may espouse heterodox treatment philosophies that you could consider? do you think such philosophies are sufficient for protecting patient autonomy and well-being, or are they still models that position the physician's judgment and authority over that of the patient?

"im wondering if there is a way to reconcile these aspects in a way that one can feel morally okay participating within such an imperfect system"

and here is the crux of the problem with this entire ask. you are wondering how to sleep at night, if you are participating in a career you find morally distasteful. where, though, do your patients enter into that equation? do you worry about how they sleep at night, after having interacted with a system of social violence that may very well have traumatised them under the guise of providing help? why does your own guilty conscience worry you more than violations of your patients' bodies, minds, and basic self-determination?

i can't tell you whether your career path is morally acceptable to you. i don't think this type of guilt or self-flagellation is fruitful and i don't think it helps protect patients. i don't, frankly, have a handy roadmap sitting around for creating a new system of medicine and health care that rests on patient autonomy. affective distress is real, and is not something we should have to bear alone or with the risk of having violence inflicted upon us. what you need to ask yourself is: how does the medical model and establishment serve people experiencing such distress? how does it perpetuate violence against them? and how do you see yourself countering, or perpetuating, such violence as someone operating within this discipline? what would it mean to be a 'good' actor within a violent system, if you do indeed believe that such a thing is ontologically possible?

[communistkenobi]

I think a large problem with how we got to this stage of "man is gender neutral" discourse is that a lot of queer people refuse to engage with feminism. I've been seeing it brought up a lot recently, but it's true. Someone who doesn't see a problem with referring to a trans woman as "dude" probably also doesn't believe in patriarchy to begin with. We need to start doing feminism 101 on tumblr again.

I think this is true and I also think this issue extends to the fact that white liberal queerness is the societally accepted conception of lgbtq issues broadly - the fact that pride flags litter the windowsills of small businesses and banks, that lgbtq merchandise is its own market, that western conceptions of gayness and especially transness are the internationally imposed norm (eg, we are pathological exceptions to cishetero society and should be accepted on the grounds that we are scientifically proven to be legitimate by medical and psychiatric institutions, presented with an awkward flair of “okay so we’re not saying being transgender is a mental illness, but it is caused by a mental illness” + framing of gay people as “they’re just like straight people! they can get married and have children just like you!”). Many many queer people of colour have pointed out how much this predominate western framing of lgbtq identity as a “white person thing” (partially because white queer people are just as racist as non-queer white people, also because of aforementioned western imperialism) puts them at odds with their own communities, giving people in those communities a “rational” reason to oppose lgbtq rights on the grounds of resisting western imperialism. Israel’s pinkwashing is a particularly instructive and stark example of this, positioning lgbtq freedom as being contingent on genociding and destroying Palestine - this doesn’t mean it’s okay to be homophobic obviously, but this sort of imperial imposition of queerness as part of the package of western domination creates the conditions for “rationally opposing” lgbtq rights and equality within colonized communities and ultimately causes intersecting levels of harm for lgbtq people in those communities. You can read decolonizing trans/gender 101 by b binaohan if you want more on the subject, I’ve only read the intro so far but it was very instructive (thank you @/molsno for spreading this link around! - she also has a post with a bunch of transfeminist writings if you want more of that). There's also this video by FD Signifier about Dave Chappelle's transphobia that talks about anti-Blackness in white trans/queer spaces and the intense homophobia and transphobia Black lgbtq people face as a result of this that I found insightful if you want to listen to something instead

ANYWAY, all to say - I think the larger problem is that queerness in western contexts (which tumblr is firmly situated in) is overwhelmingly white and liberal, which means that even if these spaces were to incorporate feminist frameworks in their analysis of oppression, they would be incorporated as liberal feminist frameworks, which are fundamentally transmisogynistic and racist, and fundamentally attached to the imperial project of the west (I recently read this article called Beyond the Coloniality of Gender by Alex Adamson discussing some of the problems with western feminism. they demonstrate this through a case study on western feminist objections to genital cutting in certain African countries + analysis of decolonial trans and intersex feminisms more broadly - if you click "show document" in the upper right hand corner of the page I linked it allows you to access the full article).

I’ve always struggled to articulate the exact issue we're discussing, because at a certain point a lack of knowledge is not to be blamed -the larger issue at hand is that the western political + economic apparatus has incorporated queer assimilation into its project. This does not mean that queer people in the west are safe from homophobia or transphobia (see: current transphobic hysteria across North America and UK in particular), but it does mean that white western queer people have incredible political and rhetorical leverage to dominate these conversations using white liberal analytical frameworks, which can only lead to transmisogynist and white supremacist conclusions about the nature of oppression. I think the only way out of these path-dependent "everyone is oppressed by patriarchy" conversations is a larger decolonial political and social project - part of which necessarily incorporates feminist analysis, but feminist analyses that are decolonial, marxist, and transfeminist in nature, and the only way these frameworks can be comprehensively adopted is through a larger decolonial turn

[waitmyturtles]

THE MORNING AFTER: ONLY FRIENDS, EPISODE 12 -- WHEN ONLY FRIENDS GOT 2GETHER-ED

TRIGGER WARNING: EVERYONE'S UP FOR CRITICISM HERE, JOJO AND TEAM, FORCEBOOK, FIRSTKHAO, ALL OF THEM. Read at your peril.

Well. Big deep breaths. I spent a lot of time on a show that had been marketed as not-a-BL, that ended as a BL. As a mom with not that much time to spend on watching and writing on dramas that were marketed incorrectly, I am feeling some kinda way (fucking pissed off).

So many people had amazing takes yesterday, on both sides of the aisle, regarding how the show ended (pro-ending here, anti-ending here, here, here, here, here, and here, and my dear friends @neuroticbookworm and @lurkingshan did heavy lifting on reblogs yesterday, so stroll on over to their blogs for more).

I want to set up a constellation of points to touch upon before I get into the meat of this post.

1) I referred quite a bit to my review of Theory of Love throughout my watch of Only Friends. In that review, I meditate on how the majority of the general global public judges sex, and casual sex, and people who have sex and/or casual sex. Generally speaking -- even in countries that makes as progressive art on sex and sexuality as Thailand and the United States -- that's a rule of thumb that I can rely on. Sex is judged by the majority of the global public.

2) I hate to say it. I cannot believe this happened. But I was right about monogamy being an ultimate theme in Only Friends. Not just a theme, fam. A theme by which people judged others for having open, casual, and consensual sex. Queer sex. Queer sex that is so very often had outside of the constraints of a monogamous relationship.

There was a reason why that holiday party was populated by couples, except for Boston, and Boston had to grovel to them in apology for their friendship. In Only Friends: monogamy wins, and casual queer sex loses.

3) Unfortunately, in part though an analysis of Cheum inside of last week that I accidentally started (ha), I see that points 1 and 2 come together to have created a fabric and framework of judgement that Only Friends ended on.

The last paragraph in this excellent post by @benkaaoi notes that the assumption by a large portion of the OF fandom that the creative choices that were made to end this series were designed to save the sanctity -- economic and otherwise -- of the shipped pairs of ForceBook and FirstKhao. This rings true to me.

Most of the BL shows that I've watched this year are older shows, through my Old GMMTV Challenge, in which I've been studying the changes over time that GMMTV and other Thai networks, have made towards their editorial choices, attitudes, and risks in producing BLs. I included Only Friends on this syllabus to note the show's impact as a kind of zeitgeist measure of how much heat and literary controversy GMMTV could take in airing increasingly progressive queer media -- even though Only Friends wasn't originally intended to be a BL.

To the theory that Only Friends needed to save the ships... and to another theory that the ships needed to be saved in the most moralistically judgmental way that I could have ever imagined (I was actually blown away by how heavy-handed this messaging was) -- I look to the ending of 2gether.

The majority general reaction to the ending of 2gether from within the existing BL fandom in 2020, was one of guffawed incredulousness. BrightWin/SarawatTine did not kiss in the first season of 2gether. It took Aof Noppharnach to come in to make Still 2gether to indicate that these two young men may have been at least vaguely sexual with each other throughout the course of their fictional relationship.

Yet, 2gether was a massive success. Many theorize it was because 2gether was the first big BL to air during the start of the COVID pandemic, and new BL fans had time to be at home and watch shows. But I posit in my 2gether/Still 2gether review that 2gether was also successful PRECISELY BECAUSE IT LACKED SEX (and by sex here, I mean plain old kissin').

As I stated earlier: sex is judged by the majority of the global public. With BrightWin NOT kissing, new fans who may have been implicitly and/or explicitly turned off by physical depictions of queer love could glom comfortably onto 2gether, and watch a BL without the "threat" of physical depictions of two men expressing their love to each other.

Subsequently, BrightWin gained massive social media followings, 2gether made GMMTV buckets of money, and GMMTV went -- well, hot diggity.

Many of us had impressions of Only Friends as...something else than it ended up being. Early on, Jojo Tichakorn, for instance, cited an early non-GMMTV, non-BL show, Gay OK Bangkok, that he and Aof Noppharnach worked on in 2016 and 2017, as being referential to Only Friends. Gay OK Bangkok centered on a group of queer friends, mostly cisgender men with Jennie Panhan in the mix, as they lived their lives and dated away in Bangkok.

I'll tell ya, GOKB didn't end the way Only Friends did, and I'll get into that more in a bit. I believe @benkaaoi, @lurkingshan, and others are absolutely right that the ultimate moralization on casual sex that this show depicted -- and how Only Friends punished Boston for his casual sex -- was an economic decision designed to reflect on the sanctity of monogamy that shipped couples like ForceBook and FirstKhao can sell back to their fans, fans that may have actually flocked to GMMTV shows from 2gether, and that demand a fantasy of devoted monogamy from both fictional characters and professional actors who are actually only just doing fan service to earn their livings. GMMTV has known for a long time how to make money, and money the network doth has made from Only Friends, and from shipping their ships around the world to service the growing fandom.

Casual sex in fiction, casual sex that breaks up the ships.... fucks that economic shit all up.

GMMTV has taught us our lesson, a lesson that we had already learned from the no-kissing rule of 2gether. Loose lips shall not sink ships at this network. And I think we lost a chance for a big and progressively artistic zeitgeist that GMMTV could have taken risks on, if it had the courage to risk depicting something truly novel.

I want to note quickly another framework that I dug into while I was watching this show. I sent a flare to @lurkingshan before I started watching the episode that I was going to, in part, watch this last episode from my personal Asian lens. I wanted to ask myself, as I was watching this disaster -- is there anything happening here that strikes my heart with fear and doom as an Asian?

Indeed, yes. I didn't expect it, but there was a dialogue on individualism vs. collectivism.

Boston. My dear, sweet Boston. Boston, named after a city so very distant from Bangkok.

Boston was punished by his group of friends because he didn't adhere to the rules of the group. His individualistic actions and preferences -- his preferences to "roll alone," as Nick stated, would not work in the frameworks of either monogamy with Nick and/or the group dynamics of the hostel crew.

The link I linked above is an amazing answer to an inquiry I posed to dear @absolutebl last year about how Asian social collectivist paradigms are depicted in BLs. In that question-and-answer dialogue, I asked ABL Sensei about the motif of queer revelations in BLs, and how seemingly straight characters respond in kind to being approached with a proposition to a queer dalliance and/or relationship. Generally speaking, the Asian collectivist mindset is to at least attempt to respond in kind to those kinds of propositions, as one's behavioral habits are designed to be responsive to others instinctually, as opposed to only servicing oneself. To only service oneself is not only seen as selfish, but also as disturbing to the general flow of public existence among one's societies. To respond in kind means that you will not cause potentially disturbing angst to another individual or group. (Collectivism explains why Asian countries performed much better with mask mandates during the pandemic than we in the States did.)

So -- Boston filming Ray, Boston sleeping with Top, created waves in the friend group. He was so severely punished for it.

And the show iterates, and repeats, Nick's preference that Boston move forward alone in Boston's life, because of Boston's tendencies to make decisions that suit himself. As an Asian-American, I mutter to myself: god forbid.

Nick will not commit to Boston -- and yet, will also condemn Boston for making his own decisions outside of the specter of a monogamy that does not exist between Nick and Boston, and that Boston will still get judged for, as referenced in the Sand/Nick conversation depicted above.

In other words: if Boston makes a decision for himself? That's punishable. Because it might hurt someone else's feelings -- a someone else that actually hasn't committed to Boston, and/or allowed Boston to commit himself to.

This group caught Boston in a moralistic and collectivist catch-22, the likes of which I just would have never expected from Jojo and team, even if the creative team faced the economic pressures of the GMMTV bigwigs. I'm sorry to state that I am beyond disappointed in this condemnation of individualism, sending Boston alone, judged, and friendless, off to New York City to live in, what, the immoral boundaries of Chelsea? Homey, get a fucking SWEET-ASS PAD, and FUCK THESE LOSERS, leave 'em BEHIND in your cloud of airplane gas emissions. See you at the La Quinta rooftop bar on 32nd Street, friendo.

Only Friends could have ended so much better. And I understand that in the Only Friends novel, published AFTER the script was finished, that it did end somewhat better for Boston (cc @jinitak, reporting from Thailand, thank you for this heads-up about the novel!).

So. Any-fucking-way. Do y'all know how Gay OK Bangkok ended?

Of many lovely endings for the various GOKB characters, an older main character, Aof, was dating a much younger character, Big. (CC to @neuroticbookworm for our quick convo on this last night.)

Aof was sex-averse. Big wanted lots of sex. Big slept with a lot of people. He loved Aof. Aof couldn't handle Big having sex with other people, and they broke up. It was a lovingly handled break-up, written just gorgeously by Aof Noppharnach.

After their break-up, I thought Big would disappear from the show. Instead. Instead! Nong Big, the little brother to the core group of queer friends that centered GOKB, was welcomed back with open arms. Arm, Pom, Sathang (played by an effervescent Jennie Panhan), and others toasted to Big, telling him he would always be family, no matter if him and his ex, Aof, had broken up. In the queer circles of friends that I'm a part of, exes are not as commonly excommunicated as they are in straight circles.

Only Friends could have been this. Something, a little something, like this.

Instead, Only Friends punished a friend for acting outside of the rules of their group.

Boston was punished because.... because Only Friends had to end up being a BL. For the sake of the moolah, for the sake of collectivism, for the sake of the shippers who'll buy tickets around the world to see ForceBook and FirstKhao perform fan service on stage.

I just didn't think that the show would be so brutal, on so many levels, in the end, to people who want to have casual sex. I don't think any of us expected this. But, it's over, it's done, and the piece has been said -- GMMTV said, no casual sex today, and here's how we actually feel about it.

I'll see you over on Gagaoolala for Playboyy. Deuces, OF.

(It was an absolute pleasure writing meta with the Ephemerality Squad -- onto the next one! @lurkingshan @neuroticbookworm @ranchthoughts @twig-tea @slayerkitty @thatgirl4815 @distant-screaming @clara-maybe-ontheroad)

[odinsblog]

Executive summary

Since launching its brutal war of aggression against Ukraine in February 2022, the Russian Federation has been locked into a long and costly conflict. Russia has been diplomatically marginalized, subjected to sanctions, and shunned by most of the Western world. Many multinational companies have been forced by international pressure to shutter or sell their Russian operations, and profiting from cooperation with the Russian state is no longer considered acceptable. Russia has found itself in dire need of new allies and resources.

In this environment, the Kremlin-financed Private Military Company Wagner, or Wagner Group, has served as an increasingly important source of revenue for the Russian state. Founded in 2014 to support pro-Russian forces in Donbas, since then Wagner Group has evolved into a complex international network of private military contractors, disinformation campaign infrastruc-ture, and corporate front companies. It has deployed fighters, propaganda and disinformation campaigns, and financing as a proxy for the Russian state in numerous conflicts, from Syria and Libya to Mali, Central African Republic, and beyond

Wagner has most often been described as an independent mercenary group. This status has provided Russia with a thin veil of deniability, particularly in relation to the numerous plausible accusations of murder, rape, torture, and war crimes raised against Wagner fighters. But in reality, Wagner has always operated with the political and material backing of the Russian Federation to advance Russian state interests.

In Africa, Wagner has been deployed in a number of countries across the continent since 2017. In each country it enters, Wagner deploys military trainers, mercenary fighters, and propaganda experts to support anti-democratic regimes, drive instability, and commit human rights abuses. The mercenary group's ostensible provision of "security services" creates a framework for lucrative business contracts for the extraction of natural resources including diamonds, oil, timber, and especially gold.

This report focuses on the Kremlin's 'blood gold': Gold extracted from African countries and laundered into international markets that provides billions in revenue to the Russian state, thereby directly and indirectly financing Russia's war on Ukraine and global hybrid warfare infrastructure.

The Blood Gold Report's analysis suggests that Wagner and Russia have earned more than US$2.5 billion from blood gold since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The report focuses on the case studies of Wagner's blood gold operations in the Central African Republic, Sudan, and Mali. In each of these coun-tries, Russia profits from the blood gold trade in different ways:

In CAR, the mercenary group has been granted exclusive extractive rights for the Ndassima mine, the country's largest gold mine, in return for propping up President Touadera's authoritarian regime. Wagner's Ndassima operations are understood to produce US$290 million of gold annually, while local miners have been pushed aside or murdered by the mercenary group.

In Sudan, through control of a major refinery, Wagner has become the dominant buyer of unprocessed Sudanese gold as well as a major smuggler of processed gold. Russian military transporter flights laden with gold have been identified by Sudanese customs officials. While tracking Sudan's unreported gold market is near impossible, estimates suggest that almost Us$2 billion in gold is smuggled out of the country unreported every year, with 'the Russian Company' in prime position to take advantage.

In Mali, Wagner is paid a monthly retainer - estimated at US $10.8 million per month - to prop up a brutal military junta Meanwhile the junta is in turn dependent on a small number of Western mining companies for the revenue it needs to pay Wagner. Mining companies contributed more than 50% of all tax revenues to the Malian state for 2022. Barrick Gold Corporation, a Canadian listed company and Mali's single biggest tax contributor, paid US$206 million in the first half of 2023 alone.

The junta is increasing its financial demands on gold mining companies. Meanwhile, the four largest gold mining companies (weighted by tax contribution) continue to plan further investments in the country, despite the well-documented abuses of the military junta and growing influence of the Wagner Group.

Wagner's blood gold operations in CAR and Sudan have been subject to sanctions, and the Kremlin-backed mercenaries have developed increasingly complex smuggling routes and corporate subterfuge tactics to move blood gold out of these countries and convert this gold into cash.

In contrast, the Malian blood gold system enables Wagner to remain one degree removed from gold production. Instead, legitimate multinational mining companies convert gold into cash for the Malian military junta without triggering international sanctions.

To secure its position in a target country's political and natural resource extraction landscape, Wagner's African playbook consists of a four-pronged attack on the host country's civic institutions and civilian population - suppressing political opposition, spreading disinformation, silencing free media and terrorising civilians.

The ultimate objective of Wagner's playbook is to increase its clients' dependence on Wagner forces to stay in power, thereby securing a long-term revenue stream for the Kremlin and fostering authoritarianism and instability throughout the region as part of Russia's wider geopolitical strategy to distract and bog down the democratic West.

Since the death of Wagner's leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, the mercenary group has formally come under the control of the Russian State. Yet the Kremlin's focus on Africa, and its blood gold operations, show no signs of changing.

(continue reading)

[empirearchives]

Councils of Prud'hommes

The Councils of Prud'hommes were a labour council created by Napoleon. As one of Napoleon’s many working class reforms, they were elected councils which solved disputes between workers and their employers.

Historian Robert B. Holtman called them “an early attempt at satisfactory management-labor relations in the new era of industrialization” and said “Through the councils of prud'hommes France became the first modern state to have a court for industry” (The Napoleonic Revolution).

First appearing in Lyon in 1806, conseils de prud'hommes were conceived as industrial justices of the peace that also developed a conciliatory approach while specialising in the regulation of economic activities. Proposals to establish such councils had already been formulated in the context of eighteenth-century conflicts between artisans and guild officials, in order to cope with the issue of subordination in labour relations. The need to establish local institutions to monitor labour relations had also been noted by the Constituent Assembly in 1791. But the creation of conseils de prud'hommes also resulted from powerful struggles led by workers over the revolutionary period. As noted by Guicheteau, it represented the outcome of multiple experiments led by different actors, most notably in Lyon, with the aim of applying revolutionary principles to the field of labour relations.

The councils’ officials were representatives elected from within trade communities—merchants, master-artisans and eventually also workers. Their success was also impressive, and new councils were soon created in other cities, so that by the end of the century they had spread throughout the country. In cities where prud'hommes remained absent, justices of the peace continued to deal with labour conflicts. Though at first also created to deal with commercial matters such as brand and quality control, prud'hommes rapidly narrowed their focus down to labour relations. It is crucial to note that, though they were ruling on individual disputes, their decisions had crucial collective implications.

Prud'hommes pronounced judgements and gave conciliatory advice on every aspect of labour relations, and thus played a pivotal role in the structuring of social relations of production. In doing this, they systematically refused to grant arbitrary powers to employers or to let unfettered market competition determine working conditions. A close analysis of prud'hommes’ decisions conducted by Cottereau clearly and amply confirms this. Whenever they felt that their rights were not respected, workers would appeal to these courts.

Employers were not granted the right to define individual tasks or the organisation of work. Methods of production could only be established by workers alone or jointly with employers, according to local trade usages, but could not simply be imposed from above by employers. Until the last third of the nineteenth century, prud'hommes objected to the establishment of all internal factory or workshop regulations that did not respect customary trade customs. In this, they were often backed up by municipal and regional political authorities.

Bargaining also took place within a framework defined by municipal policies and the decisions of conseils des prud'hommes, establishing minimum wages and tariffs; and whenever the bon droit was infringed upon, discussions, arguments and (sometime violent) conflicts emerged.

The point is not simply that the employers’ powers were importantly circumscribed. Over the first two-thirds of the nineteenth century, such powers, at least in a unilateral form, were nowhere to be found. Prud'hommes and local or regional authorities justified their decisions and interventions by stressing the fact that issues pertaining to labour relations and the organisation of production were ‘public matters’. The separation of ‘economic’ and ‘political’ spheres specific to capitalism, which implies the privatisation of political powers to organise production, and their confinement to an ‘economic’ sphere, simply did not exist in France until the last decades of the nineteenth century, an authentic relationship of reciprocity characterised labour relations and was largely accepted, and sometimes even actively defended, by most employers, as well as by workers. As Cottereau explains, justices de paix and prud'hommes enforced, and helped to define the contours of, a moral economy, and this economy was at times also upheld by collective struggles.

The reason why so many historians have overlooked prud'hommes:

Importantly, these trade communities were also no longer backed by the central state. Sets of customary norms represented a kind of local and semi-clandestine legislation. Consequently, prud'hommes made sure not to over-publicize some of their decisions, as many could have been—and were, in fact, on relatively rare occasions, until the last third of the nineteenth century—recognised as illegal by superior law courts and high state officials and politicians. This partly explains why their crucial regulatory role within the nineteenth-century French economy has been so often ignored by historians.

Thus, for instance, after the central state’s intervention to abolish the tariffs set by Lyon’s municipal government for the silk industry in 1831, and following the popular revolts that ensued that same year and in 1834 (which will be discussed in the next chapter), the city’s prud'hommes continued to administer and to enforce piece rates clandestinely, with the support of the trade community and in direct opposition to the official liberalism.

Source:

Xavier Lafrance, The Making of Capitalism in France — Class Structures, Economic Development, the State and the Formation of the French Working Class, 1750-1914, ch. 3