Global Consortium: Customer-Centered Innovation with Work-Centered Intelligence.

We are a global team of consulting researchers who embed innovation in companies. How? We gain insight about customers and connect it to company innovation practices.

We bridge the gap between "who customers are" and "how companies effectively serve them."

Our seasoned team is where customers are. We draw on deep local knowledge and work closely with clients to design effective work systems that produce products and services. As trained and experienced anthropologists, sociologists, technologists, and participatory design specialists, we leverage our expertise and global reach to provide coordinated, simultaneous, multi-country research and consulting. 

Our Associates

"Several members of our team at working session in Seattle, November 2005"

To offer our clients rich insight into their customers and their own companies, as well as efficiently produced research projects, we employ members of our global field network which consists of some of the best and most experienced anthropologists and ethnographers around.

Our leader

Patricia (“Pascha”) Sachs, Ph.D. Economic Anthropology and Founder and CEO of Social Solutions, Inc.,  is a professional anthropologist with over 20 years experience focusing on strategic organizational change, development of expertise in organizations, technology, learning and participative design of work systems to put strategy into practice.

Dr. Sachs was formerly Founder and Director of the Work Systems Design Group at Nynex Science and Technology, and Senior Research Scientist at the Institute for Research Learning, where she was the director of Workplace Practice Group. She co-holds two patents on holistic modeling of which one, Brahms is currently under development at NASA.

In addition to her PhD in Economic Anthropology, Patricia also conducted post-doctoral work in developmental and cognitive psychology. She is co-author of two policy reports for the federal government. Her work has been reported in Fast Company, Business Week, Scientific American, Wired, The Washington Post, and The Portuguese Executive Digest. Patricia knows to live and work in the US and in virtual communities.

Our Global Team

Hugo Gaggiotti, Ph.D. Social Anthropology and Management Studies

Expertise in urban organizations, corporate culture, and expatriate managers, and uses and practices of 'culture' in companies. Knows how to live and work in Spain, France, Italy, Argentina, Brazil, and Venezuela.

Dina Dastur, M.A. Sociology

Qualitative researcher and ethnographer with 17 years experience, based in Mumbai, India.  Formerly Research Director with IMRB International, India's largest market research agency. Knows how to live in India, South Asia, and global virtual communities.

Diana Marre, Ph.D. Social Anthropology

Expertise in international adoption, and supporting organizations who help prospective parents adopt children. Knows how to live in work in Spain, France, Italy, Argentina, and Brazil.

 

Peter Savigny, M. Sc., Computer Science

User researcher with 8 years' experience with on-site studies and user-centered design consulting, based in Hamburg, Germany. Peter knows how to live and work in Germany, the US, Australia and New Zealand.

Alexey Danilin, Ph.D. Candidate

Trained anthropologist and sociologist with expertise in qualitative research of markets, corporate culture. Knows how to live and work in St. Petersburg, Moscow, and ex-Soviet Republics.

Lizzie Elsey, B.A., Social Psychology

Director of Operations, Social Solutions, Inc. 10 years experience business management, project management, coordinating simultaneous global research projects, and consulting. Knows how to live in the United States and the surfing and restaurant subcultures.

Lisa Faithorn, Ph.D. Cultural Anthropology

Expertise in combining qualitative research and organizational consulting with strategic visioning, alliance building and leadership development. Facilitates interdisciplinary  distributed collaboration in implementation of work practices.

Tom Andersson, Ph.D. Social Anthropology

Expertise in language, cognition and media focusing on political systems and communications for strategic action and project definition. Knows how to live and work in Scandinavia, US, and France.

Mary Reisel, Ph.D. Candidate, Social Anthropology

Expertise in Japanese culture and women in Japan as well as contemporary consumption habits and fashion. Former journalist and editor and currently a university teacher and market research specialist. Knows well the secrets of how to live and work in Japan, Israel and France.

Felipe Aixala, Ph.D. Action Research, Psychology

Expertise in participative and action research in social change; work with organizations in embedding innovation through co-design, HR and clinical psychology. Knows how to live and work in Spain and the US.

Liu Neng, Ph.D.Sociology and Anthropology

Doctor of Sociology at Peking University in Beijing. Research focuses on the ecology of consumption in Chinese society, technology and social change, and urban studies and has published extensively on these topics. Knows how to live and work in China and the US.

Christine Truc Modica, BS in Computer Science and MA in Computer Related Design

Design strategist and user researcher with 16 years experience, based in France. Expertise in qualitative research, trend monitoring, scenario design and concept development. Christine knows how to live and work in the US, UK, Italy and France

Why Are We Distinctive?
We are globally-distributed team of consulting corporate anthropologists, technologists, and workplace specialists.

We bridge the gap of customer insight and the internal capability to leverage that knowledge. We do this through "discovery-based inquiry," working with you and your customers. We uncover what’s hidden in plain view, and help you leverage it.

We are part of your team: we collaborate with you to embed capabilities that allow clients to generate innovative and effective technologies, solutions, and business practices.

We Look. We Listen.
We don't come in with pre-set solutions to problems. We develop solutions based on on-site inquiries and secondary research to put insights into action. We tailor projects to the organization as needed, working with other consulting firms and internally organized teams, as client needs dictate.

We Participate. We Collaborate.
We spend time in your organization to understand what works well now, and how that can be built upon.

We Stick Around to See if it Works.
We want to see the results. We share our insights along the way, because we like to work as closely with our clients as possible. We adapt as we go. We’ve worked inside corporations ourselves, and we know what it’s like when budgets shift or hot new initiatives suddenly appear. We can help you keep business going.

We Leave Something Behind.
Our goal is to embed capability in your firm, so that when we leave, you have tools in hand for you to use and adapt to meet your needs.