Larry Namer: giving each country a place in the business plan
Larry Namer recalled changing how he organized a media business plan geographically. In his conversation with Richard, he contrasted an earlier United States focus with later plans that named other countries individually.
The old other category
Namer said his earlier planning gave almost all the weight to the United States and grouped the rest as other. He contrasted that with later planning in which the United States had a smaller share and the other countries had names.
Geography becomes an operating question
The example concerns how a plan represents its markets. Naming a country allows a team to discuss that market directly instead of treating every market outside the United States as a single remainder. His comparison shows how the categories in a plan changed as he considered a wider set of markets.
In Larry Namer's words
"we actually name the other countries" (Larry Namer, Larry Namer's Family Office Club fireside chat with Richard C. Wilson)
How to use this
- Check whether the geographic plan hides several markets inside other.
- Give each proposed market a specific explanation in the plan.
Questions and answers
What changed in Namer's planning?
Countries outside the United States became individually named markets.
Were his proportions a universal allocation rule?
He presented them as a comparison between his earlier and later business planning.