THE DILEMMA BETWEEN INDIVIDUALISM AND COMMUNITARIANISM


THE DILEMMA BETWEEN INDIVIDUALISM AND COMMUNITARIANISM

The next of our dimensions covering how people relate to others concerns the conflict between what we want as individuals and the interests of the group to which we belong. Do we relate to others by discovering what each one of us individually wants and then trying to negotiate around the differences, or do we place ahead of this some shared concept of public and collective good? Everyone goes through these cycles, though people start from different points and think of them as ends or means. An individualist culture sees the individual as the end, and improvements to collective arrangements as the means of achieving it. A communitarian culture sees the group as its end, and improvements to individual capacities as the means to that end. But if the relationship is truly circular the decision to call one element an end and another a means is arbitrary.

This second dimension similarly gives rise to a number of key dilemmas. Is marketing concerned with satisfying individual customer needs and preferences, or is the focus on creating a trend or fashion that is adopted by a group? Individuals will then purchase to show that they have joined the group by following the shared trend. From the customer's perspective, do we relate to others by discovering what each one of us individually wants, or do we place ahead of this some shared concept which we can identify with and feel part of? Figure 2.4 shows the relative orientation of a number of countries along this dimension.

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Figure 2.4: Relative degree of indivualism-communitarianism for a number of selected countries

Advertisements and Commercials in China

The impact of the communitarian values of Chinese culture on the marketing of consumer goods is rather straightforward. Most goods are best positioned in a family or family-like collective environment. Family-like collectives frequently used in advertisements are colleagues, members of a sports team, or classmates at school. Within the collectives, the leading people are often given some special attention or a special role.

Celebrating the Family in Advertising

The communitarian orientation of the French reveals itself very clearly in some of its products and in the way they are advertised. Well known products are the Renault Espace (a family car) and family vacations organized by Club Mediterran e (better known as Club Med). After an initial rejection by the entire auto industry, Renault, the largest French manufacturer, showed persistence in the development and later very successful sales of the first compact family car. It was advertised as one that united families going on vacations. The enormous success of Club Med is also indicative of French communitarianism through family life. The whole business idea is to offer vacations for families, including grandparents, in a luxurious environment. This is very French indeed.

TV Advertising in Germany

Until the early 1980s all television in Germany was public. It was financed by public television fees and advertisements were limited to short slots in the early evening. However after the introduction of private channels during the 80s, the amount of television advertising has increased quite significantly. Nonetheless, in comparison with other countries, it is still fairly limited; overall Germany is probably one of the countries with the least amount of TV advertising. Printed ads are much more common. In general, advertising expenditures in Germany are much lower than in most other countries. Compared to the United States, for example, the amount spent on advertising is significantly lower.

Comparative Advertising

Comparative advertising, while common in some countries, is illegal in France. In the US this is a common practice; individualistic America has a tradition of overtly competing products. In contrast comparative advertising is seen as humiliating by the communitarian French. Under paragraph 1382 of the French civil code it is forbidden to compare products publicly , even in cases where there is only a slight bias or where the comparison is correct.

The Public Regulation of Distribution

In marketing products on the German market, companies have to deal with a set of public regulations that may often seem rather restrictive . First, there is a law against unfair competition (Gesetz gegen den unlauteren Wettbewerb). This prohibits some of the more aggressive strategies to gain market entry and increase market share and sprang out of the strong tradition of cartels and "interest communities" that were active in Germany up until the Second World War. These groups were set up to hinder cutthroat competition with its potentially negative effect on the economy as a whole.

Although cartels and similar practices are now prohibited and tightly watched by the monopoly commission in Berlin, the notion that competition should not be too fierce and the push to avoid destabilizing effects on the economy are still rather strong and permeate public regulation. In general, public regulation is geared to pursuing public goals and not to fostering the free working of market forces. Planning restrictions are often used to channel behavior towards such goals. It may, for example, be rather difficult for a company to get a planning permit for a large out-of-town retail development as authorities are trying to protect shopping facilities in city centers. Retailers often have a tough time dealing with these kinds of constraints in Germany. After unification, the situation was different for a while in East Germany, and planning permits were generously granted. However, the situation there is now becoming more like that in the former West Germany.

Another frequently discussed restriction in Germany concerns the relatively short official shopping hours. Recently, these restrictions have been somewhat liberalized as a result of increased pressure.

"Uneconomic" Levels of Service in Japan

In Japanese business, good service can be taken to what westerners sometimes consider "uneconomic" levels. For example, a woman asks for a shade of lipstick that is out of stock in a drugstore. She is invited to sit down, offered tea perhaps, and a dispatch rider is sent from the wholesaler with the particular color she wants. Western economists would tell you that such high levels of service are not economically justified; the cost of delivery would lose the druggist at least 500 yen.

A communitarian system calculates on a different basis. What is the customer's continued loyal patronage worth? Might she not feel an obligation to that particular druggist and spend more money later? Communitarians ask what the relationship is worth, not the cost of the lipstick itself.

Self-Sacrificing Consumers

Consumers are subordinated to corporations in Japan. But is this a willing sacrifice? They wish to support Japanese business in its export drive by shoring up domestic sales and "buying Japanese." Criticism of Japanese markets often assumes that Japanese consumers would want to buy foreign produce for a few yen less, given the choice, and that consumers think only of themselves . But is this so? So-called non- tariff barriers could be the result of concerted community choices, not the result of cheating or plotting against foreign imports. Certainly Japanese consumer organizations state that they willingly bear higher prices to sustain their nation. This is in part because they are not only buying a product, but are also buying the whole corporate contribution to society.

Communitarian Yogurt

The main product of the Japanese company Yakult is a fermented yogurt drink that claims to have a positive effect on health. Yakult developed a unique delivery system for this product in Japan: house-to-house delivery by so-called Yakult ladies. These Yakult ladies are young women, dressed in a company uniform including a hat and gloves, who distribute the product in their own neighborhoods.

Yakult tried the Yakult lady system in the Netherlands when they first introduced the product there in 1994. However, being more individually oriented than the Japanese, the Dutch viewed unannounced visits to their homes as violations of their privacy. Another problem resulting from Dutch individualism was that it was difficult to find women who were willing to sell products in their own area. The fact that company uniforms are not very popular among the individualistic Dutch made it even more difficult to find women willing to take these jobs.

The problem was that the Japanese company was used to distribution systems based on personal contacts, loyalty, and communitarianism, while Dutch distribution systems are more impersonal and individualized. The Dutch see large scale supermarkets as efficient and practical and couldn't really see the advantage of the Yakult lady system. In the end, Yakult managed to reconcile its communitarian orientation with the individualism of the Dutch by redirecting its personalized marketing efforts to homes for the elderly and social gathering places such as train stations .

Commitment to Singapore

Commitment to Singapore and Asia in general is another communitarian theme that is frequently found in advertisements in Singapore. CMS Energy, an international company involved in a power plant project with a local Singaporean partner, placed an advertisement in Singaporean newspapers in order to show its commitment to Asia in general and to Singapore in particular. The advertisement emphasized that the company was committed to the people of Singapore and to bringing energy to Asia. The ad gave details about plants in other Asian countries. In addition, there was a personal presentation of the management team at the new Asian regional headquarters in Singapore. The presentation included pictures and information about their personal backgrounds and their Asian experience. It explicitly stated that one of the executive directors-who was from Singapore-had a wonderful wife and three delightful daughters born in Singapore and that he would bring Singaporean family values into the management team.

Distribution Systems in South Korea

Retailing in Korea is still dominated by small shops . Distribution systems in Korea are quite complicated because they consist of networks with many chains based on close relationships. This distribution system is hard for a foreign company to enter. The most successful western companies in Korea have not tried to set up their own distribution networks, nor have they completely delegated distribution to local distributors. They are the ones that started an alliance with a local distributor and went out of their way to build a close relationship with that distributor. In Korea it is important to make sure that an alliance partner and the distribution and sales force feel that they are part of the company "community." To that end, some western companies offer training to their distributors' staff, give advice on marketing and promotion, and work closely with the distributors to get information about the retailers and the end customer.

Family Restaurants in Seoul

Family-style restaurant chains such as TGI Friday's and Sizzler do very well in Seoul. Seoul has a strong tradition of restaurant business. There is a fairly large middle class of professionals in Korea who have a greater disposable income and are willing to spend this partly on entertainment. Family-style restaurant chains successfully cater to this market because they offer a night out for the whole family for a relatively low price. Many of these establishments are franchised to local Korean operators who are able to adapt the atmosphere to local expectations.

Family Life in Taiwan

Demonstrating the values of family life and taking care of your family is a strong selling point in Taiwan. A company that sells pots and pans introduced a popular commercial starring two movie star lovers. In the commercial, the man was invited to a romantic candlelit dinner. The advertisement was reasonably popular, but based on feedback from the public the couple was replaced by a film star and his wife in the following season . The two come home and have an intimate dinner together as a happily married couple. Showing a warm and loving family life made the commercial more successful.

Alone Means no Friends

Advertisements for beer in Europe sometimes show someone enjoying a beer while alone. When the Taiwanese see an ad like this they think "That person is lonely . They have no friends." Advertisements for beer in Taiwan show lots of people, all having a good time together.

Shareholder Sovereignty in the UK

Individualistic cultures disagree with communitarian ones about how much power individual shareholders should wield over the corporation they own. In Britain, shareholders have enormous power. The corporation is their property and they have the right to sell to the highest bidder. Senior managers often describe themselves as shareholder representatives working to ensure a high price per share and a good dividend. Many think that the purpose of a corporation is to make money for its shareholders. Shareholders can overturn management decisions or enforce their own decisions, and in the last few years shareholders have forced senior directors of some UK companies to resign.

Communitarian cultures, on the other hand, tend to encourage cross shareholding by banks, suppliers, subcontractors , and employees of the corporation. This effectively blocks hostile takeovers and gives banks and other institutional lenders veto power over would-be acquisitors. Changes of ownership are then friendly rather than hostile .

Marketing to Individualists

Independence is encouraged in Britain and this has become more apparent in recent years. Demographic trends, such as fewer people getting married, single person households, and the increasing age profile of the population seem to be encouraging individuals to be self-reliant and independent.

Advertising in the UK often appeals to this self-reliant aspect of Britons, as shown in the text of a recent ad from the Prudential Assurance Company Limited:

It wasn't your style to burn your bra.

Instead, you burnt the midnight oil building a career.

What drove you on?

It wasn't feminism, more individualism.

Even with a loving partner you valued your independence and

invested in your own pension.

And look at you now.

Shopkeeper turned potter and just turned sixty.

We're proud to have helped.

In the US, we can see similar effects. Although "self-reliance" cannot be translated easily into many languages, it has been eulogized in American literature by such writers as Ralph Waldo Emerson. Self- reliance is deeply ingrained in the average American from a very early age, and dependence is discouraged. Great emphasis is placed on personal growth and self-actualization.

Naturally, since independence and self-improvement are so deeply ingrained, advertising is often designed to appeal to this aspect of the culture. There is, for example, an advertisement that shows a man facing physical as well as mental challenges which ends by saying "Be all that you can be. Join the Army." Other well-known ads are the Marlboro commercials that show a cowboy on his horse, alone in the middle of the wilderness. The announcer invites the viewer to "come to Marlboro Country." The implied message is that in Marlboro Country, men are men and don't need anybody else. In more communitarian cultures, this type of advertising would probably not have much appeal, but in the US, it is quite effective.




Marketing Across Cultures
Marketing Across Cultures (Culture for Business Series)
ISBN: 1841124710
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 82

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