Lesson 5: Global Product Design

Cultural Sensitivity

Cultural sensitivity is a way of rating how culturally sensitive a product is. It examines how well the item conforms to explicit cultural and societal values. For example, because of space concerns in some cultures, the kitchen opens directly into other family and social areas. For this reason, these cultures like different colors and faces for the kitchen appliances so they fit better into the apartments décor. Allowing for different appliance faces that are easily attached would be sensitive to a cultural need and be something that allows the product to be easily adapted.

Another allows the product to adapt to cultural values. For example, orthodox Jews do not allow for the mixing of meat and dairy products. Designing completely separate areas for meat and dairy adapts to this cultural value. Another aspect is how the refrigerator connects with the existing infrastructure in a variety of countries and cultures. For example, can the product be plugged into a 120 v or 240 v circuit without any problems. Is there an opportunity for the product to be manufactured locally? This allows the company to get entry into a market by employing local people and avoiding import taxes and duties. What follows are several check lists with examples.

How sensitive to culture is the product?

Some products such as high tech products like jet and airplane engines or chemicals processed for future use are not sensitive to a specific culture and need no adaption. It should be noted that the closer the product is to the personal use by an individual in a given culture the more culturally sensitive it must be. Few people come in contact with jet or airplane engines. However, hygiene products (i.e. soap, shampoo, razors, etc.) are used daily by individuals and need to be more culturally sensitive.

How adaptable is the product to the culture?

As mentioned earlier this would include things such as cell phones and operating systems for computer applications. These adaptations could also be for language differences. For example, as a promotion, McDonalds used to give a free Big Mac sandwich to any customer who could say the slogan, "Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun" in 3 seconds. The German translation was more cumbersome and, to accommodate, McDonalds allowed 5 seconds to complete the phrase. It should be noted savy American tourists would ask to complete the phrase in English when visiting McDonalds in Germany. Usually the employees would still use the 5-second time limit allowing almost twice the time to complete the phrase!

How well does it conform to explicit cultural and societal values?

This would range from safety standards for cars, to energy efficient and low pollution products. Would the popular large SUV and 4-wheel drive vehicles be as popular in places like Europe, China and Singapore that have additional vehicle costs, limitations due to street size and higher fuel and vehicle operating costs?

Will the product thrive by taking advantage of cultural values?

For example, if the culture likes to buy in bulkImage taken from personal photos
and store products at home, will the product be packaged in case lots, or will it use individual use packages like the individual use shampoo packetsImage from rdiglobalhospitality.com
sold in India? Some products take advantage of the culture's desire for safety and security. This may include additional safety features on vehicles.

Is the product unattractive unless it meshes with cultural values? This includes the packaging of food to the shape of garden tools to the color of kitchen appliances. While it is important that the product does what it is supposed to do and does it well, it may also be important to the culture that the product looks good and fits in with other cultural dimensions (i.e. kitchen appliances being part of the apartment's décor).

Will it require significant infrastructure support?

This becomes important if you are trying to market a refrigerator to at country who has little electrical infrastructure or unreliable electrical infrastructure. Is the infrastructure needed? For example, landlines in India are rare because of the lack in supporting infrastructure. However, cell phones are very common since erecting cell phone towers to support cell phone use was relatively easy.

Will the product succeed by fitting into economic situations of the consumer?

Many in India cannot afford the large containers of shampoo often sold in the United States. Instead they will buy single use packets because of the reduced cost. Other items will have hidden costs that make them unaffordable to some. For example, instead of being able to change oil at a low cost outlet, some vehicles require service in specialized outlets, often with a higher cost.

Will the product succeed if manufactured locally?

This ranges from foods to construction materials. Often recipes or procedures are used with local products or foods to avoid the need to import some of the product. It also allows for manufacturers to enter a market by providing jobs and having their product look and feel like a local product.