Alexandre Zisa is an expert in industrial competitiveness, product performance, and design to cost. He visits with us on the Your Marketing CoPilot podcast. We discuss: Breaking the link between cost and quality Working backward from cost Using more expensive people can save you money Pushing decisions “down” to the operational level results in more and better innovation. Marketing in Germany, France, the U.S. (or even in Oregon and Texas!) involves tailoring the message for the way people “dream” regionally Alexandre is an engineering expert, but many of his ideas are very helpful in marketing because he is such a creative thinker. Ideas like being an expert in a small niche, breaking the link between cost and quality, and  pushing decisions down to the operational level, may originate in the engineering field, but they apply equally well in advertising and marketing. Alexandre’s article on Design to Cost Made Simple He can be contacted at http://www.ingenics.com or Alexandre.Ziza (at) ingenics (dot) com or on LinkedIn.