Evidence Supporting Positive And Negative Aspects Of Cultural Marketing Essay

Introduction:

Globalization is a process in which countries come together to increase or develop their economy. Technology, social, economic and culture play an equal part in the process of Globalization. Globalization helps in increasing overall trade relationship between two or more countries, development in terms of new technologies, Impact of a organization or company in terms of power and progress overall, helps in increasing cultural awareness thus opening out more opportunities in the real world in sense of job openings and new technologies. Globalization plays an important role in tourism/hotel industry where there is increase in developments of technology, transportation, and communication. Global tourism/hotel has increased in comparison to any other statistics. Detailed analysis and the stats can be found on World tourism/hotel Organization website. Some of the stats which explain the overall increase in the global tourism/hotel are, According to Bull. A (1995), around 85-90% holiday nights in North America and Europe are spend by local tourists and in Pacific Islands it is some around 7%, and if considered globally its just 40-45% in north America who go out for holidays, 40% are associated with travelling, 8% are VFR travellers, and 5% on government works (Bull. A, 1995). It has been seen between 198 0 to 1990 the overall rate of the tourism/hotel as increased to 4% per year. The rise in the local travellers can be concluded in such way that the hospitality industry is been trying to target and attract local customers by giving A Class service and food. As said by Peric (2005), due to globalization there is improvement in e-ticketing system, travelling, cost effective and easy transportation to the destinations. Development of the new websites related to hotels and tourism/hotel has given users all information regarding the transportation, the costs, and all other details.

Definition:

Cultural homogenization is an important part of Globalization which has been used in hospitality industry in order to improve there monetary gains and to make a mark in overall hospitality industry all over the world. Cultural homogenisation is a mixture of two or more cultures, i.e. people or an organization combining two or more cultures in order to bring one common culture that doesn’t has any differences is called as cultural homogenisation. Cultural homogenisation has increased the acceptance of consumer needs and demands such as food, drinks, clothing etc. Increase in cultural homogenisation has a great effect on culture in bringing together all people together from different regions and nations. As said by McLeod (2004), Globalization has a great effect on Cultural homogenisation. Cultural homogenisation can be defined with two terms as “McDonaldization” and “Coca-colonization”. McDonaldization can be refereed as the homogenisation of cultures which take place due to large organizations, increasing westernization and Americanization in whole world. The homogenisation of the culture started with the McDonaldization of the society.

Factors related to McDonaldization:

“McDonaldization is a process by which the principles of the fast food restaurant are coming to dominate more and more sectors of society”, (George Ritzer, 1993). Ritzer says McDonald has become a trademark or a role model for other food supply organizations in supplying good food and quality services to customers. McDonaldization has similar points related to Taylorism which is not only changing the American culture but also in process of changing the world culture. McDonaldization has been used many other organizations such as Toys R Us), B. Dalton’s Bookstores, USA Today, Kinder Care, and many more. McDonald is famous because of its customer service, quality food and service, management techniques and decisions and controbility in business. The five main factors on which McDonaldization depends on are Efficiency, Calculability, and Predictability and control (Ritzer G, 1993).

Get Help With Your Essay

If you need assistance with writing your essay, our professional essay writing service is here to help!
Find out more about our Essay Writing Service

Efficiency: It is a method which is adopted by McDonald for getting and fulfilling one objective to other i.e. achieving higher gains by less budget and effort. The main point of increasing efficiency is showing the interests in benefit of the customers, such as serve on our own, drive through food, Supermarkets etc, at the last customer does work for himself earlier which was done by organizations. Efficieniency can also be achieved by maintaining organizational rules and regulations.

Calculability: It is defined in terms of quantity with respect to products and the services provided to customer in stipulated time. According to McDonaldization, quantity is equal to quality, and the best way in which that service is provided to the customer. According to Ritzer G (1993), he says that our culture deeply believes in “Bigger the Better”. Many organizations who apply to the McDonaldization theory are Dominos Pizza who promise to deliver pizza to the customers within half an hour, same with Pizza Hut who promise to deliver pan pizza within 5 minutes in there outlets.

Predictability: McDonald offers predictability with a offer to give the same products and services through the years. It’s a step to build a structured environment by quality services through the years. It says that the burger which was eaten in a outlet in United Kingdom should have the same taste when eating in a outlet in United States of America. The employees working in the organizations who follow McDonaldization are also predictable who follow rules and regulations mentioned by organizations.

Control: Control is a technique which is followed by McDonaldization organizations by which there employees are pre instructed to do particular tasks, some would be standing at the cash counter and will be dealing with the orders and the cash, they won’t be making out the burgers, and some employees will be making burgers and they won’t be allowed to stand at cash counters. This working of employees are always monitored y the mangers in their respective stores. Organizations which make use of technology in their McDonaldization process helps in serving in serving out the customers consistently.

Benefits of McDonaldization:

The 4 factors described by the McDonaldization clearly indicate that the process is used for providing good services and quality food. Economic Columnist Robert Samuelson also agrees to the goals and objectives and the business structure model mentioned by McDonaldization and also claims that McDonald is the best fast food restaurant which puts the objectives of the McDonaldization into real world. Organizations which have embraced McDonaldization had many positive effects and also customers receive get more options in range of products and services which are listed below (Ritzer G, 1993):

Huge range of products and services are available to the customers with various choices and options.

Availability of the favourite products more easily and under one roof.

Uniformity in the products and services by the organizations embracing McDonaldization.

Costly food items and services are now affordable by the people.

Increase in efficiency of the organization.

Better service, better quality, increase in profits.

Evidence supporting positive and negative aspects of Cultural Homogenisation:

Cultural Homogenisation has also been applied by Walt Disney Co. in trying to bring together the global tourism/hotel with demands and needs in promoting Disneyland Resorts. Disneyland was built in California and within few months it had reached around the world. Using the same concept and it was believed that launch of the Disneyland in the Hong Kong will also gain same popularity as it had gained throughout the world. Disneyland was in the top of the mind of every tourist and had become a part of the culture in every nation. The Cultural Homogenisation had made Disneyland a trademark instead of a product selled by Walt Disney Co. (Reisinger Y, 2004). This acceptance of globalization had only made Disneyland famous but has also helped in gaining more profits by providing excellent service and entertainment. The theory of McDonaldization does apply over here by which Disneyland has tried to make a mark by bringing together culture of different nations by providing quality services and products to the customers. But the idea of launching Disneyland failed in Hong Kong due to cultural issues. The park was built in Hong Kong with the same concepts which were used in all other nations, i.e. launching of the Disneyland with the theme of Chinese culture. Chinese tourist was reacted differently to this idea since it didn’t have any sign of the cross culturalization or any different culture which would attract Chinese tourists. It was said that tourists who liked the Disneyland in the California didn’t like the Disneyland in Hong Kong. The main reason for the failure is that the management didn’t built park according to the western style since it was not a part of Chinese tradition. They had to make lots of changes according to the customer demands and requirements. This resulted to a huge investment by the Walt Disney Company in getting the changes done according to the customers.

Cultural Differentiation:

Cultural Differentiation occurs due to the changes occurring in society, the lifestyle of the people, the inter communication between 2 people or 2 groups or 2 cultures. Cultures do change with respect to change in the technology, ideas, politics, etc. “Tourism/hotel significantly influences the changes induced through contact between societies with different cultures” (Reisinger Y, 2004). Tourism/hotel plays an important role in transformation of the culture. According to Robinson (1998), Tourism/hotel can create such changes in culture of the host nation that it can be irreversible. According to Pearce (1995), Tourists are seen as medium for cultural change. The broadening of the cultural elements such as ideas, food, drink, etc which affects the culture is called as cultural diffusion. In tourism/hotel the change in the culture which is adapted by the nations is referred to as cultural diffusion. The cultural elements which get changed due to the cultural diffusion are language, food, choice of music, and many more. According to Lockwood A, Medlik S (2000), Customer demands and needs are changing continuously under pressure, for business or for personal entertainment tourism/hotel industry are becoming a part of the day to life of an individual. Cultural diffusion is although used to explain the common factors between two cultures, but it is also criticized. “Although the concept of cultural diffusion is often used to explain similarities among cultures, it has been criticized for implying that various cultures would not be capable of development if it were not for cultural diffusion” (Reisinger Y, 2004).Although McDonaldization has been used to bring 2 or more cultures together there are some negative aspects of the theory. McDonaldization helps in enhancing the cultures in different nations by different culture elements such as food, clothes, drink, etc, but this change in the culture tradition of the nation also affects the change in the mindset of the people where people try to get adapt to the new cultures and traditions thus leaving back there age old traditions and cultures. As said by Teboul (1988), the techniques and the ideas used to reduce the cost and increase the efficiency of the manufacturing industry, but this technique would be undesirable to service providers. According to Ritzer G (1993), the internal issues and problems only give rise to inefficiencies, i.e. the fast growth of the fast food hotels can give rise to the health issues to the customers and the affect the environment. Ritzer G (1993) also takes up the issues related to the quality and the services which also affect the hotel industry.

Conclusion:

George Ritzer’s McDonaldization of Society is a theory which is used by many fast food industry and organizations in order to globalize and provide quality service and food. Societies do change accordingly with respect to the cultural elements thereby making a big change in the adoption of culture by the nation. It is also seen that the cultural differentiation occurs due to the cultural homogenisation where organizations originate from different cultures and they develop in different nations inheriting different cultures, thus bringing on changes in cultures to different nations.