Banter Without Borders

The Nosey Scotsman and a Chinese Consumer

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Alan Jope is a Scotsman…a nosey Scotsman. He pries into other people’s lives. He asks them about their hygiene practices, quizzes them on their Internet-surfing habits, and questions their finances and child-care philosophies. He even asks them about their political beliefs and extramarital affairs. And the people’s lives he’s prying into are not even fellow Scotsmen. They’re Chinese consumers. And they’re answering his questions willingly. Mr. Jope lives in Shanghai China. He’s not a member of the Chinese communist party, nor does he work for the Chinese government. He is Unilever’s Chairman for Greater China, and he practices the ultimate in grass roots marketing.

Mr. Jope was featured a recent article in Advertising Age entitled: “Unilever Puts in Face Time with the Chinese Consumer. “  The article focuses on a day spent with a Chinese consumer, something Mr. Jope does at least once a month. This isn’t something new to Mr. Jope. The article points out that this is a routine he's followed since joining Unilever in 1985. He's been inside hundreds of homes in developed nations and in emerging markets around the world. So what does he learn, and how does he apply it?

The featured visit of this day was with Zu Quingrong, a middle-class woman living in Shanghai. Ms. Zu is a freelance consultant, married to an engineer, and has an 8 year old daughter.  The Zu household has an annual income of $2,200, considered high for China, but not for a tier one city like Shanghai. Although they can’t afford a car as yet, their growing income is sufficient to allow them the luxury of purchasing international brands like many of those offered by Unilever.  

Their lifestyle includes:three computers-a laptop for each parent and a desktop for their daughter, satellite TV and wireless internet access,and three smart phones.They use the internet for email and Skype calls to friends.Ms. Zu chats on online billboards, organizes her purchases on Taobao.com, and uses QQ.com, a popular instant messaging platform to organize events. Mr. Zu spends a good deal of time in the evening playing online games and downloading music

The Zu household is typical of the heavy use of digital media in China and confirms Alan Jope’s decision made during previous home visits to devote at least 10% of Unilever’s media budgets to online media.

During their shopping visit to a Carrefour hypermarket, Ms. Zu confirmed Mr. Jope’s concern that Chinese consumers of Unilever’s Omo detergent brand, of which Ms. Zu was a loyal consumer, were confused about the brand’s architecture at point of sale. This prompted Mr. Jope to hasten the introduction of Omo’s new package graphics, making it easier for consumers to navigate the brand’s architecture. Similarly in a different aisle, Ms. Zu had trouble understanding the anti-dandruff benefits of Clear Shampoo as presented by an in-store demonstrator. The takeaway by Mr. Jope was there is a need for well trained promoters rather than outsourcing to poorly trained hires.

Mr. Jope is clearly not an ivory tower thinker, and he considers his visits with consumers critical to defining strategies which will allow Unilever to achieve its aggressive growth goals in China. And what of the Chinese consumer ? Mr. Jope believes the Chinese consumer is “moving towards quality multinational brands and is proud of where she is and what she has achieved.” He is reminded of how independent Chinese women are becoming in China’s urban markets.  That’s one smart Scotsman

Cultural Upheaval: Will Canada be the New China?

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“Oh, how things have changed.”  Thus began a recent Bloomberg Business Week podcast on China. The vexing question of whether to tackle the ins and outs of doing business in The Middle Kingdom started long before the recent and wrenching Google saga, but China's increase in power and, now, boldness on the world stage are more apparent than ever. Ongoing talk of Beijing’s ‘decoupling’ China and the U.S. is clear evidence of such a dramatic and unsettling development. For Western companies, red carpet treatment has now been replaced by red tape. The heady days of rushing to China and its untapped resources are over. Businesses are thinking far more carefully now, wary of the new and increasing risks of entering a market whose great wall of restrictions, regulations and requirements is steadily rising. As those of us who work with clients on improving their ‘intellectual capital’ vis-à-vis overseas business know, cultures and their values allegedly don’t change, yet even this holy grail of global coaching and consulting is thrown in doubt, with China’s apparent personality shift providing one huge exception to the cultural rulebook.  When it comes to China, myths and realities are on murky ground.

With China and even Asia no longer automatic destinations for companies in expansion modes, and with recession tightening everyone’s belts and changing thoughts of how to proceed with globalization, where are companies to go when seeking to expand beyond domestic markets?

One answer may well be Canada, which is looking like a really viable choice at the moment.  Many in retail would seem to agree, as a WSJ article* indicates. U.S. companies in the clothing industry, from J. Crew to the Limited to the Gap, are all taking the plunge into Canadian waters ever so carefully, and so far, so good [Interesting that Gap, which didn’t fare very well in its earlier overseas attempts in China and European markets and is now trying to set up an online presence there, is an enthusiastic participant in Canada].  There is no question that the Canadian market will present some very different challenges in terms of its market and culture – its higher end focus, emphasis on the outdoors, historically more discriminating and slower-moving consumer, not to mention the sizable number of cultural nuances overall. The time, though, seems just right, and the notion of expanding a business to Canada certainly carries much less psychological weight than is now the case with so many other destinations. I’m sure at least Google and GoDaddy would agree.

Technology, Globalization and China: Too Much, Too Soon?

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There is no denying it: technology has made globalization possible. It has, in large measure, flattened the world and leveled the playing field, bringing cultures and countries together in ways we wouldn’t have thought possible, even twenty years ago. For tech geeks new and seasoned, this has been a blessing and a joy, with each new development bringing welcome challenges and opportunities. But, alas, new technological advances have always had their downsides as well, affecting not only basic skills and strengths but cultural constructs such as family structure and the social fabric as well. Way back in the 20th century, the invention of the TV caused worries about the loss of imagination and creativity, as people would, going forward, be fed visual images. The advent of the electronic calculator similarly caused concern that mathematical prowess would suffer, as simple operations would no longer need to be done in one’s head. More recently, as computers burst on the scene, and the rate of technological progress suddenly seemed to take off at unprecedented speed, the price has been paid, many would argue, in the communication sphere, as huge swaths of etiquette and social decency seem to have fallen by the wayside with each new upgrade, particularly where social media is concerned (And talk about infectious – even the players at Copenhagen have been dubbed “Facebook Bureaucrats”*).

What happens, though, when after years of government imposed deprivation, a country, never mind one of the world’s fastest growing superpowers, suddenly leapfrogs over the computer age’s early by-products  -- “instant messaging, video streaming, online gaming and interactive media,” to name a few -- and drops full throttle into the present, missing the decade where such developments transitioned naturally? According to a recent article in the Financial Times**, the consequences for China’s youth are dire for many, as internet addiction has recently surfaced as a serious social problem there (and in China, eroding values are already posing a cultural challenge to the centuries' old nation steeped in tradition). The notion of Chinese teenagers addicted to their computers isn’t exactly shocking, especially given the aura of forbidden territory resulting from so much policing of internet activity. Besides, as it’s the rare individual anywhere these days who is not helplessly hooked on one tech device or another, it’s a refrain we’re certainly used to hearing. In China’s case, though, it’s the degree and seriousness of this addiction which is troubling. The FT article cites a recent film which chronicles dozens of sobering cases of China’s wayward youth involving even murder, and “pinpoints the internet as the scourge leading kids astray and tearing families apart.”

In response, many of these teenagers are now being sent by their parents to bootcamps throughout China, of which there are currently over 300***; and with the country’s dubious track record where human rights are concerned, it is all the more worrisome to hear of the questionable conditions and “inhumane methods” under which these youth are weaned of their internet addictions. Since we’re dealing here with the future workforce of a country which perhaps holds more promise and potential than any other nation at the moment, this is not something to be taken lightly.  With China facing so many unique challenges as it moves up the global success ladder, and with technology sure to keep racing ahead, let’s hope that its youth’s internet addiction crisis recedes before too long.