Xerox loses the plot

Xerox is an international company. And like most international companies it has grappled with the "adaptation/standardization" argument.

The two sides of this argument are either;

• Adapt everything you do to meet the needs and expectations of the individual markets where you do business
• Standardize every aspect of you business and make the same offering to all customers, regardless of location

Now, it is never this simple. There are very few product that can be standardized for every market. The IKEA Billy bookcase is one potential example of a rigidly standardized product. And even the highly adapted product often has a standardized underlying platform.

I received this mailing from Xerox. It came from the Xerox office in Canada, and was mailed to a Canadian address. The reply card, to enter the contest for a $500 Apple gift card, is going back to a Canadian address and has a Canada Post Business Reply Mail permit.

So, why does Xerox use a drawing of a US penny on the paper plane? Everything else about this mailing was adapted for the Canadian market. To make a small change, like the nationality of the penny, in an electronic file would be very easy and cheap. I can only put it down to laziness or sloppiness. Either is inexcusable for a big firm like Xerox.