Prominent anthropologist Eric Wolf once described anthropology as "the most scientific of the humanities, and the most humanistic of the sciences." Anthropology as a concept has grown since European colonisation in the 17th century to the present date. In its evolution, it has not only branched out into various other sub categories but also enriched itself by the profound contributions of avid thinkers.
Ethnology is a science that analyses and compares human cultures, as in social structure, language, religion, technology and cultural anthropology. The study of Ethnology and its application in the management discipline will bring about a qualitative development in the way organisations perceive their customers.
Mankind being the most knowledgeable species has evolved into a complex mesh, which requires an intensive mental dissection, for the purpose of analysis and understanding. Social and cultural influences affect us in our day-to-day behaviour. A particular experience can have dramatically different interpretations across the world. Ethnology is a valuable tool that can be applied to business practices to make a difference. Understanding Consumer Behaviour, individually as well as in groups, is the crux of marketing research and a determining factor for the financial growth of organisations. Consumer-centric business practices need to be developed, with reference to social and cultural biases.The sensitivity attached to one’s society and culture needs to be tapped to understand and satisfy different consumer types. Because satisfaction is basically a psychological state, care should be taken in the effort of quantitative measurement; and though a large quantity of research in this area has recently been developed, there is a latent need to show qualitative progresses. This study can be of ground breaking value, which will contribute to differentiation and positioning strategies adopted the world over.
Culture refers to a set of values, traditions or beliefs, which guide individual behaviour. In a way culture is normative, as it prescribes norms of acceptable human behaviour. In other words, culture refers to values, ideas, attitudes and other meaningful symbols created by people, to shape human behaviour and how this behaviour transmitted from one generation to another. For examples, beef is not very readily accepted in the Hindu society and likewise pork in the Muslim society. These things form a core concern for many international food franchises like Mac Donald’s, Pizza Hut etc. Values in any culture are developed through socialisation and acculturation. Refusing beef or pork or garlic by a society is a value developed through socialisation. The use of a fork or knife to eat food, by Indian families, is a value acquired through acculturation. In any culture, there are subcultures that exist. These are different nationalities, religious and geographical groups. For example, in India, we have Hindus, Muslims, Jews, Christians and Sikhs, as exciting religious subcultures. A marketer needs to be aware of these cultural and sub cultural influences on consumer preferences. This will affect his/her brand, packaging, advertising, sales promotion and even distribution decision. A culture's values are likely to influence its member’s purchases and consumption pattern. For example, one consumer may place a high value on achievement and may demonstrate success with symbols of luxury and prestige. Culture not only influences consumer behaviour, it reflects it. The preponderance of exercise machines, fitness clubs, skin care lotions, diet foods and low fat products reflects the emphasis that Indian youth places on fitness. Culture is therefore a mirror of both the values and possessions of its members.
Some organisations have remarkably built a sustainable competitive advantage, by laying emphasis on diverse cultures. For example, the HSBC Bank has quite sucessfully positioned itself as the “World’s local bank”. Being global and personal at the same time is the key to its success. HSBC's international network comprises over 10,000 offices in 83 countries and territories in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, the Americas, the Middle East and Africa. It has sucessfully adapted itself to variours cultures and sub-cultures and constanly thrives on the changes that affect these societies. Its popularity is evident from the numerous awards and the recognition that the bank has be showered with, the prominent ones being The Best Consumer Bank (November 2004 by The Banker Magazine) and the World’s Best Bank Award (July 2004 by Euromoney Awards for Excellence.)
The coffee giant Starbucks has also started capitalising on cultural pluralism. This year during Ramadan, for its customers in the Middle East, Starbucks created a new drink, that it hopes would go on to becoming a Ramadan tradition — the Date Frappuccino.It would seem like a real blunder, maybe even cultural insensitivity, for Starbucks to market a new food product just for the month of Ramadan — the month Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset. But Starbucks executives seem to think, this caffeinated version of “think globally, act locally” strikes the right marketing balance.Starbucks, now with 200 stores in the Middle East (mostly in the oil-rich Gulf countries) has operated in the region, since 1999, with the help of a trading partnership from the region. We have to wait and see if this new move works for Starbucks.
Not having appropriate cross cultural awareness can lead to disastraous consequences for companies. It might result not only in poor penetration and low sales but also a lot of damage to the company’s reputation and goodwill. It is crucial for today's business personnel to understand the impact of cross cultural differences on business, trade and internal company organisation. The success or failure of a company, venture, merger or acquisition is essentially in the hands of people. If people are not cross culturally aware then misunderstandings, offence and a break down in communication can occur.
The need for greater cross cultural awareness is heightened in our global economies. Cross cultural differences in matters such as language, etiquette, non verbal communication, norms and values can, do and will lead to cross cultural blunders.
We can illustrate this with a few examples. In 2002, UMBRO, the UK sports manufacturer, had to withdraw its new trainers (sneakers) called Zyklon. The firm received complaints from many organisations and individuals, as it was the name of the gas used by the Nazi regime to murder millions of Jews in concentration camps.
In 1985, Bechtel pulled out of a joint venture in New Guinea. It seemed flawed from the beginning. Bechtel had 33 months to build a new plant, organise services and meet a production deadline or face financial penalties. They planned to place a mine, at the top of a mountain, in an isolated rain forest, creating a town of 2,500, camps for 400, a power plant, an air strip, roads, hospitals and support services (for natives who had never seen a Westerner). The natives, who were recruited to work (while receiving 400 inches of rain during the rainy season), had no concept of private property, modern money, central government or work regulations. The multicultural workforce of 5,000 comprised mixed indigenous people and imported technicians from the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Korea, and Philippines. The road builders did not believe in working round the clock (the contractor finally went bankrupt). Natives also did not like the work schedule, so they went with bows and arrows to shut down telephone lines, roads and frighten personnel. There was an 85% turnover in the native workforce. It is a classic example, where the company was not able to manage and understand diverse working groups and behavioural patterns of the different socio-cultural people.
Another example of lack of etiquette awareness is that of Proctor & Gamble. They used a television commercial in Japan that was previously popular in Europe. The ad showed a woman bathing, her husband entering the bathroom and caressing her. The Japanese considered this ad an invasion of privacy, inappropriate behaviour and in very poor taste.
A nice cross cultural example of the fact that all pictures or symbols are not interpreted in the same way across the world. Staff at the African port of Stevadores saw the "internationally recognised" symbol for "fragile" (i.e. a broken wine glass) and presumed it was a box of broken glass. Rather than waste space they threw all the boxes into the sea!
American Motors tried to market its new car, the Matador, based on the image of courage and strength. However, in Puerto Rico the name means "killer" and was not popular on the hazardous roads in the country. Some genius, at the Swedish furniture giant, IKEA, somehow came up with the name “FARTFULL”, for one of its new desks. As you can imagine, sales did not exactly hit the roof! Pepsodent tried to sell its toothpaste in Southeast Asia by emphasising that it "whitens your teeth." They found out that the local natives chew betel nuts to blacken their teeth, which they find attractive. Thus a keen understanding of the people, in their social and cultural context, is essential before delivering value through business.
The traditional and obsolete approaches in understanding diverse cultures have to end. We need to have a paradigm shift in our customer orientation. Application of socio-cultural anthropology or ethnological studies to management will make us more culturally sensitive and help us in understanding the end consumers in a better way. In this era of “Glocalisation” where more and more people are integrating and boarding the bandwagon of standardisation, the players who will capitalise on the cultural, social and ethnic differences of the people and address their specific needs will stand apart. Multi-linguistic and multi-cultural people have needs that need to be dealt with differently. One has to play in their field to satisfy them and establish a customer value chain. The role of socio-cultural influences is not necessarily the foremost driving force behind customer purchases, but it is definitely a big part of their conscience and plays an eminent role in their buying decisions. Achieving a tandem between similar economies and buying habits is imperative, but understanding the dissimilarities is also of equal importance. One has to market the products, services, ideas and experiences in a way which will harness their underlying conscience and promote satisfaction-driven sales. This will establish a win-win situation for everyone involved.
Ethnology is a science that analyses and compares human cultures, as in social structure, language, religion, technology and cultural anthropology. The study of Ethnology and its application in the management discipline will bring about a qualitative development in the way organisations perceive their customers.
Mankind being the most knowledgeable species has evolved into a complex mesh, which requires an intensive mental dissection, for the purpose of analysis and understanding. Social and cultural influences affect us in our day-to-day behaviour. A particular experience can have dramatically different interpretations across the world. Ethnology is a valuable tool that can be applied to business practices to make a difference. Understanding Consumer Behaviour, individually as well as in groups, is the crux of marketing research and a determining factor for the financial growth of organisations. Consumer-centric business practices need to be developed, with reference to social and cultural biases.The sensitivity attached to one’s society and culture needs to be tapped to understand and satisfy different consumer types. Because satisfaction is basically a psychological state, care should be taken in the effort of quantitative measurement; and though a large quantity of research in this area has recently been developed, there is a latent need to show qualitative progresses. This study can be of ground breaking value, which will contribute to differentiation and positioning strategies adopted the world over.
Culture refers to a set of values, traditions or beliefs, which guide individual behaviour. In a way culture is normative, as it prescribes norms of acceptable human behaviour. In other words, culture refers to values, ideas, attitudes and other meaningful symbols created by people, to shape human behaviour and how this behaviour transmitted from one generation to another. For examples, beef is not very readily accepted in the Hindu society and likewise pork in the Muslim society. These things form a core concern for many international food franchises like Mac Donald’s, Pizza Hut etc. Values in any culture are developed through socialisation and acculturation. Refusing beef or pork or garlic by a society is a value developed through socialisation. The use of a fork or knife to eat food, by Indian families, is a value acquired through acculturation. In any culture, there are subcultures that exist. These are different nationalities, religious and geographical groups. For example, in India, we have Hindus, Muslims, Jews, Christians and Sikhs, as exciting religious subcultures. A marketer needs to be aware of these cultural and sub cultural influences on consumer preferences. This will affect his/her brand, packaging, advertising, sales promotion and even distribution decision. A culture's values are likely to influence its member’s purchases and consumption pattern. For example, one consumer may place a high value on achievement and may demonstrate success with symbols of luxury and prestige. Culture not only influences consumer behaviour, it reflects it. The preponderance of exercise machines, fitness clubs, skin care lotions, diet foods and low fat products reflects the emphasis that Indian youth places on fitness. Culture is therefore a mirror of both the values and possessions of its members.
Some organisations have remarkably built a sustainable competitive advantage, by laying emphasis on diverse cultures. For example, the HSBC Bank has quite sucessfully positioned itself as the “World’s local bank”. Being global and personal at the same time is the key to its success. HSBC's international network comprises over 10,000 offices in 83 countries and territories in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, the Americas, the Middle East and Africa. It has sucessfully adapted itself to variours cultures and sub-cultures and constanly thrives on the changes that affect these societies. Its popularity is evident from the numerous awards and the recognition that the bank has be showered with, the prominent ones being The Best Consumer Bank (November 2004 by The Banker Magazine) and the World’s Best Bank Award (July 2004 by Euromoney Awards for Excellence.)
The coffee giant Starbucks has also started capitalising on cultural pluralism. This year during Ramadan, for its customers in the Middle East, Starbucks created a new drink, that it hopes would go on to becoming a Ramadan tradition — the Date Frappuccino.It would seem like a real blunder, maybe even cultural insensitivity, for Starbucks to market a new food product just for the month of Ramadan — the month Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset. But Starbucks executives seem to think, this caffeinated version of “think globally, act locally” strikes the right marketing balance.Starbucks, now with 200 stores in the Middle East (mostly in the oil-rich Gulf countries) has operated in the region, since 1999, with the help of a trading partnership from the region. We have to wait and see if this new move works for Starbucks.
Not having appropriate cross cultural awareness can lead to disastraous consequences for companies. It might result not only in poor penetration and low sales but also a lot of damage to the company’s reputation and goodwill. It is crucial for today's business personnel to understand the impact of cross cultural differences on business, trade and internal company organisation. The success or failure of a company, venture, merger or acquisition is essentially in the hands of people. If people are not cross culturally aware then misunderstandings, offence and a break down in communication can occur.
The need for greater cross cultural awareness is heightened in our global economies. Cross cultural differences in matters such as language, etiquette, non verbal communication, norms and values can, do and will lead to cross cultural blunders.
We can illustrate this with a few examples. In 2002, UMBRO, the UK sports manufacturer, had to withdraw its new trainers (sneakers) called Zyklon. The firm received complaints from many organisations and individuals, as it was the name of the gas used by the Nazi regime to murder millions of Jews in concentration camps.
In 1985, Bechtel pulled out of a joint venture in New Guinea. It seemed flawed from the beginning. Bechtel had 33 months to build a new plant, organise services and meet a production deadline or face financial penalties. They planned to place a mine, at the top of a mountain, in an isolated rain forest, creating a town of 2,500, camps for 400, a power plant, an air strip, roads, hospitals and support services (for natives who had never seen a Westerner). The natives, who were recruited to work (while receiving 400 inches of rain during the rainy season), had no concept of private property, modern money, central government or work regulations. The multicultural workforce of 5,000 comprised mixed indigenous people and imported technicians from the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Korea, and Philippines. The road builders did not believe in working round the clock (the contractor finally went bankrupt). Natives also did not like the work schedule, so they went with bows and arrows to shut down telephone lines, roads and frighten personnel. There was an 85% turnover in the native workforce. It is a classic example, where the company was not able to manage and understand diverse working groups and behavioural patterns of the different socio-cultural people.
Another example of lack of etiquette awareness is that of Proctor & Gamble. They used a television commercial in Japan that was previously popular in Europe. The ad showed a woman bathing, her husband entering the bathroom and caressing her. The Japanese considered this ad an invasion of privacy, inappropriate behaviour and in very poor taste.
A nice cross cultural example of the fact that all pictures or symbols are not interpreted in the same way across the world. Staff at the African port of Stevadores saw the "internationally recognised" symbol for "fragile" (i.e. a broken wine glass) and presumed it was a box of broken glass. Rather than waste space they threw all the boxes into the sea!
American Motors tried to market its new car, the Matador, based on the image of courage and strength. However, in Puerto Rico the name means "killer" and was not popular on the hazardous roads in the country. Some genius, at the Swedish furniture giant, IKEA, somehow came up with the name “FARTFULL”, for one of its new desks. As you can imagine, sales did not exactly hit the roof! Pepsodent tried to sell its toothpaste in Southeast Asia by emphasising that it "whitens your teeth." They found out that the local natives chew betel nuts to blacken their teeth, which they find attractive. Thus a keen understanding of the people, in their social and cultural context, is essential before delivering value through business.
The traditional and obsolete approaches in understanding diverse cultures have to end. We need to have a paradigm shift in our customer orientation. Application of socio-cultural anthropology or ethnological studies to management will make us more culturally sensitive and help us in understanding the end consumers in a better way. In this era of “Glocalisation” where more and more people are integrating and boarding the bandwagon of standardisation, the players who will capitalise on the cultural, social and ethnic differences of the people and address their specific needs will stand apart. Multi-linguistic and multi-cultural people have needs that need to be dealt with differently. One has to play in their field to satisfy them and establish a customer value chain. The role of socio-cultural influences is not necessarily the foremost driving force behind customer purchases, but it is definitely a big part of their conscience and plays an eminent role in their buying decisions. Achieving a tandem between similar economies and buying habits is imperative, but understanding the dissimilarities is also of equal importance. One has to market the products, services, ideas and experiences in a way which will harness their underlying conscience and promote satisfaction-driven sales. This will establish a win-win situation for everyone involved.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment