The Impact of Confucianism on Customer Behaviour and Perception of Western Brands - Essay Example

How Chinese people see brands different from the western countries Contents Literature review 3 1. Introduction 3 2 Confucianism 4 2.1.1 Confucianism Meaning 4 2.1.2 Chinese culture and Confucianism 6 2.1.3 Neo-Confucianism 7 3.1 Consumer behavior 7 3.1.1 Consumer behaviors and Chinese culture 7 4.1 Branding 9 4.2 Customers based Brand Equity Pyramid 10 4.2.1 Brand Salience 11 4.2.2 Brand Performance and Brand Imagery 11 4.2.3 Consumer Judgements and Consumer Feelings 12 4.2.4 Consumer Brand Resonance 13 Bibliography 15 1. Literature review 1.1. Introduction China is in the stage of approaching a new phase of its economic development and this is the time when foreign brands are not anymore considered in the same position in the Chinese consumer market. The subject of numerous studies in the western countries has always been concentrated on the consumers’ attitude towards the western international brands. On the contrary, there have not been sufficient studies on the Chinese consumer brands even though they seem to assume greater importance. Up to this moment, the very strongly proven brands to be the preferred foreign brands, especially the brands of choice by the Chinese consumers, must be in correspondence with the country’s socio-cultural characteristics considering the hierarchical and collectivism concerns. China has always become unavoidable market being its one of the first countries receiving foreign investment. One of the most highlights of this period is its phenomenon of the foreign brands. The western brands, through the establishment of transnational corporations, have greatly changed the daily lives of the Chinese people. It is with a genuine enthusiasm that the foreign branded product have been received and accepted by the Chinese consumers due to some of the reasons such as: greater diversity of choice, preferably better quality, good reputation, attractiveness in appearance, a sense of liberty, new arrivals all the time, timeliness in availability among others. In the recent period in the Chinese market, everything that had a foreign brand was considered of high quality and was priced higher. This reason made those who consumed such products of the west be regarded as the rich and refined in the society. Due to the economic change that took place quickly in China however, brand development in this country has become so complicated for the Chinese enterprises. This has indeed made the Chinese industry to understand the essence of the brand very quickly. The Chinese companies recently, over the past twenty years, have embarked on advanced technical expertise that has seen the manufacturing industries win the confidence of the consumers in this country as well as establishing its brands and introducing its products in the international market to compete fairly with the western countries’ brands with some products, having Chinese brands becoming new ‘stars’ of the international market. This literature review tries to view the points of differences that are featured in the perception of the Chinese as far as their view about the western brands differ from their own brands and how Chinese culture has contributed to some specifics in the brand design of certain products in the country. It is also important to note the fact that Chinese products are recognized all over the world and compete fairly in the world market, meaning they have a brand which is fairly competitive in the world market compared to the western countries brands. 2.1 Confucianism 2.1.1 Confucianism Meaning Confucianism is a western term which does not have any counterpart in the Chinese, can be said to be a social ethic, scholarly tradition, political ideology and way of life. The term Confucianism which is sometimes viewed as a religion and sometimes as philosophy, can be therefore be understood as encompassing way of living and thinking the entrails of ancestor reverence. The East Asians profess themselves to be Buddhists, Christians, or Muslims along with others, but by way of announcing affiliation about religion primarily do not cease to be Confucians (Britannica, 2013). Confucianism can be termed as religious as well as philosophical tradition which had evolved way back in China and the latter was practiced all over East Asia. The founder of Confucianism was a man by the name Confucius who lived between 552-479BC and became the most influential person in the Chinese history. This is seen as his teachings continued exerting deep influence on society, including the new China of today. Many temples in China were built in his honor even though the western countries have refused to recognize that it is a religion. To the westerns, they have no god, churches, priests or even idols in the owner of Confucius. This great man in the Chinese culture lived during the time of great chaos and conflict which was widely termed as the era of spring and autumn Confucianism is also described as ethics and humanism but is highly termed as one of the major religious across the world. The termed is recognized as different from other religion. Within China the term Confucianism is claimed to be one of the three teachings “San Chiao” which tends to include Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. The inclusion of the term Confucianism as one of the three teachings speaks more about expensive meaning and not suggesting it something which tends to identify the tradition as religious in the western sense. Some of the experts would argue for the fact that Confucianism can be identified as one of the mode of teaching or religion and is inclusive of religions and also of non religious traditions. As per C. K. Yang, Confucianism has also been the reason for which the East Asian culture cannot be said to be a fully religious culture. One of the prime question which sets to arise is whether Confucianism is a religion or not. In context to this question many scholars have viewed Confucianism a social humanistic and not religion as it focuses the establishment of relations person and capacity of individuals in the development of the moral nature. Thus a number of issues got associated with the perception as focused mainly upon ethicality and humanity and thus cannot be said to be a religion (Taylor & Choy, 2005, p. Xii). Confucius emphasized more on the principles of self guidance. To Confucius person tends to become noble by developing the five traits of humanity, righteousness, wisdom, proper conduct and trustworthiness. The most essential and important Confucian value is respect (Luo, 2009, p. 27). 2.1.2 Chinese culture and Confucianism In analyzing the consumer behavior of Chinese in context to western brands a focus is made towards Confucianism and is essential as the tradition tends to have had an enormous impact upon the Chinese people and also assumed to influence the consumer behavior in the Chinese market. Chinese culture has its roots based on the philosophy of Confucianism. In most of the cases the term Confucianism is used as synonymous with the Chinese culture and thus to understand the behavior of Chinese people a description of Confucian values is must. Confucianism is termed as philosophy of conservatism where the emphasis was placed on maintaining the harmony and the status quo. The social hierarchy is an essential element in reinforcing the stability and the concept of Confucius promoted that every individual has status in society and the conduct of should be guided through one status. Confucianism also tends to promote the group conformity of the Chinese people. As prime importance is the behavior of the people in the society and thus the individuals in China are experiencing a strong social pressure in order to comply with the group and is highly evident from the consumer behavior of the Chinese consumers (Henriksen, 2009, p. 26). Although China is influenced by three philosophical factors, Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism, the Chinese culture is thus characterized by Confucianism. The Chinese tend to adhere quite easily the standard of various groups as compared to people in the individualistic society. It tends to assume differences from members of various groups but at the same time respecting the individual standard of the group. The Chinese consumers believe that consumption of the product which is of foreign origin is much more symbolic. It is further assumed that comments and recommendation tend to play essential role in choosing a brand (Li, n.d, p. 6-7). The Chinese Confucianism philosophers took a major part in coming up with a Guanxi culture. This is the informal personal connection between individuals who seem to have a strong bonding by implicit psychological contrast and allow norms like mutual commitment, long term relationships, obligation and loyalty (Luo, 2009, p. 27 2.1.3 Neo-Confucianism This can be defined as the synthesis of Taoist cosmology and Buddhists spirituality that surrounds the core of Confucian concern with the society and the government at large. This synthesis predominated in the intellectual and spiritual life of the Asian countries with China is a major one. During the Tang dynasty period which was around 618-907, Buddhists reached a most flourishing and very creative peak; while the Sang dynasty period which came between 979-1279, brought about a reaction about the foreign religion as well as creative revitalization of the Confucian tradition which had become stagnant. The more lasting importance of this neo-Confucianism was the intellectual and as well as spiritual reshaping of culture and tradition. 3.1 Consumer behavior 3.1.1 Consumer behaviors and Chinese culture Confucianism focuses much on the family values with respect to the individuals of the Chinese origin who have a deep concept of family members and how the members are widely reflected in the buying decision made by the Chinese. In addition, culture also emphasizes on the continuation of a generation where children in the Chinese culture are considered as the future generation hence various expectations are tied to them. For this reason, when identifying consumer needs, marketers need to keep in mind the age of the consumers and use different strategies for different age group. Numerous different ways have come up to explain the sources of information to the consumers. Some of these sources include; television commercials, private and public sources, awareness, written sources like magazines, newsletters, daily newspapers and electronic sources like through the internet and others not forgetting through word of mouth. Collectivism is another way through which Chinese consumers get together in groups and create awareness about certain products and certain strong brands and new and emerging ones in the market. Particular marketing companies also focus on such groups to promote certain products and this emerges to be a very major tool. As China enjoys its diversity in its cultures, certain cultures like the Guanxi and the Mianzi act to influence the behavior of consumers in the Chinese markets. These cultures divide the Chinese consumers into groups as the generous consumers, the rich, the poor, those with good taste or fashionable, outdated among others divisions. For instance, the Mianzi culture has always promoted the consumption of the luxurious products in China. According to several researches, the Chinese have minimal involvement in making private consumption purchases and in case such purchases are made, the involvement is quite high. The Chinese are considered a people who value smooth relationship among themselves as they uphold cohesiveness in their co-existence in the society; a factor that has been used to express status, approval, gratitude as well as disapproval. The Guanxi exhibit a culture that in itself promotes consumption among the inhabitants of the land. They promote friendliness as their belief goes: it is essential to sustain a good relationship in order to succeed in both organizational and individual levels (Luo, 2009, p. 29). 4.1 Branding According to reports it has been revealed that the makers of luxury goods usually focus mainly towards brand awareness. This is because of lack of understanding between the buyers with context of luxury goods. Brands tend to become ubiquitous in the global culture and tend to become an integral part of the economic and cultural landscape. But despite of branding many brands tend to fail and most of the big brands such as Mc Donald’s, IBM, GM, Coca Cola and others have made mistakes in branding and marketing the product to the target consumers. Following the Chinese consumer market, the consumer has been seen to rely heavily on the recommendations from others as well as the information they gain from the physical stores (Haig, 2011, p. 7). Confucianism is a concept which also involves branding and it should be of interest to marketers who would like to understand branding in a deeper context. Just as culture tends to shift from one generation to the other, the same way Confucianism tend to do (Qing, 2012, p. 110). Particular cultures convey the specific relationship about an organization which intends to inspire people in that organization. Culture has been found over a long period of time to play a major role in brand building. For instance, in the case of Apple, it is perceived to propagate the culture of innovativeness, creativity, dynamism in the minds and perception of its employees. This is majorly due to the image created by the company based on its distinction in the products it specializes in. This brings out culture as equally important as branding is vital for a particular organization as it associates the organization to its products (Davis, 2010, p. 101). 4.2 Customers based Brand Equity Pyramid Talking in regards to branding, it can be said that branding is mainly done for the purpose of communicating the values of a particular product or service to the consumers, using either the above the line or below the line promotional techniques and branding activities. The reason to focus and provide so much importance on the brand factor is that it helps in making an identity for the product or service in the minds of the consumer (Kapferer, 2008, p. 15). Talking about this aspect, it can be said that the customer based brand equity pyramid is a unique model that helps in a great way in the process of establishing an identity for a brand. Figure 1: CBBE Model (Source: Keller, 2001) Describing about this model, it can be said that the entire pyramid comprises of several small elements like the brand salience, brand imagery, consumer judgments, consumer feeling and finally the consumer brand resonance (Hutt & Speh, 2012, p. 175). 4.2.1 Brand Salience Taken individually, it can be said that the brand salience is highly related to the awareness level of the customers with regards to the brand. Brand salience is a key factor that helps in building up brand identity (Elliott & Percy, 2007, p. 154). Talking in a more narrowed manner, it can be said that the brand name, symbol as well as brand logo, creates a major impact in the process of developing the retention power of the consumers in regards to the brand. In this case, it can be said that since the Chinese consumers are exposed to the luxury brands because of their travelling nature, hence, the brand salience is strong in regards to these consumers. 4.2.2 Brand Performance and Brand Imagery It can be said that the performance and imagery issues of the brand are directly linked to the factors of brand meaning. Brand meaning is essential because it provides the platform to place an image in the minds of the consumers, and thereby helps the customers to relate themselves with the brand (Shajahan, 2006, p. 44). Talking about brand performance, it can be said that delivering a product of superior value is extremely essential to this factor as it helps in the process of enhancing the communication value of the product or service to the consumer by the firms as well as through the consumer’s own perception. Brand imagery highlights the issues related to the extrinsic properties of the concerned product or service, which also comprises of the brand’s ability to meet the sociological as well as psychological expectations of the targeted consumers. Talking on this note, it can be said that the Chinese consumers have the expectation that a quality factor equivalent to that of a Western brand is important. It also needs significant importance to mention that the 4.2.3 Consumer Judgements and Consumer Feelings It can be related that the factor of consumer judgments and consumer feelings are directly related to the responses that are initiated by the brand. It can be said in these regards that the consumer judgments focus on the process of evaluating the personal viewpoints and opinions of the consumers on the basis of their individual perception and experience that have formed through the consumption of the product or service (Keller, 2001, p. 8 – 15). For the purpose of developing a strong brand judgment in the minds of the customers, a firm should focus on delivering branded products of high quality. Other important factors related to the consumer judgments are credible, consideration and superiority of the brand. Talking about consumer feelings, it can be said that this is a factor of high importance and significant relevance in regards to the development of the brand. Talking in these regards, it can be said that the consumer feelings highlight the issues that are related to the emotions of individuals that are generated as a result of the course of association of the individuals with the brand. Talking on these lines, it can be said that the most important sub factors that essentially contribute to the process of generation of feelings of the consumers to the brand are warmth, security, social approval as well as the fun factors. The issue of self respect also provides generates a significant amount of emotional bonding with the brand by the individual. Talking in relevance it can be said that the issues of both consumer judgements and consumer feelings are positive for the western brand in the minds of the intended target consumers. The Chinese consumers focus on acquisition of luxury brands of the western category while viewing it as a daily purchase which is expected to provide value to the consumers in the course of its designated product life cycle or service consumption time. 4.2.4 Consumer Brand Resonance The factor of the consumer brand resonance is related and associated with the process of developing positive and strong relationships of the brand. Talking in this tone, it can be addressed that the brand resonance represents the amount of synchronization that consumers form during their course of interaction with the brand. Behavior based loyalty, factors related to attachment attitude as well as a sense of community and active kind of engagements are some of the key factors that need to be highlighted since they contribute in a major way in the process of forming of relationships. Talking in these lines, it can be said that due to the high fascination of the Chinese consumers in regards to acquisition of highly popular western brands, it can be easily said that the consumer brand resonance is high. However, it also needs to be highlighted that since there are a wide range of alternative brands present in the market, which have the similar kind of western tag and popularity, it can be said that the consumers of the desired market segment have a wide range of choices, which makes the behavior based loyalty of the consumer, take a significant dip (Keller, 2001, p. 8 - 15). The Chinese highly believe in emotional chord of branding. This is not just about differentiating the product, but in addition to it, attachment, trust and loyalty are involved in this function. As the brand is able to connect emotionally with the customers, it inspires loyalty through brand names and logos. In addition, long term relationships are vital in the efforts to sustain the Chinese market. There is a high appreciation in the local involvement by the Chinese consumers. This means that, for the western brands to nourish in the Chinese market, they should be able to adapt to the local Chinese culture, failure to which, the western brands will not like the cold reception in the Chinese market. As suggested in Confucianism, Chinese are normally formal people and their social status playing an important role for the Chinese consumers. Chinese are the kind of people who like to uphold harmony, stability and trust in business hence the Chinese culture in itself can be concluded to relate to the concept of Confucian. 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