Advanced Readings in Business Anthropology
A new book is under way
Advanced Readings in Business Anthropology
Edited by
Robert Guang Tian
Daming Zhou
Alfons van Marrewijk
North American Business Press
Toronto · Miami · Seattle
2011
General Business Anthropology
Anthropology is a discipline that over the last hundred or so years has developed a wide array of qualitative techniques for understanding people and their behavior. Although its toolkit is broad, flexible, and illuminating, for many years, these analytic methods suffered as second class citizens within the business disciplines because research tastes were skewed towards quantitative and so called “rigorous” methods. Less formal techniques, such as those that distinguish anthropology, were not considered respectable.
That has changed.
Business practitioners have become impatient with techniques that are unable to provide culturally sensitive information in a timely and effective manner. As a result of these problems, anthropological fieldwork techniques (and those inspired by them) have evolved and are being applied within business. The “naturalistic” research stream of consumer behavior is an excellent example of this trend.
It is within today’s environment that Robert Tian, Michael Lillis, and Alfons van Marrewijk offer a text that explores ways in which the qualitative social sciences, in general, and anthropology, in specific, can serve the strategic sciences such as business and policy science. New books on this subject are always welcomed because this is an area of thought that is quickly evolving and writing only a few years old is likely to be dated. The authors seek to review the current literature and put it into an historical, intellectual, and tactical perspective.
This book is organized into chapters that provide overviews of important trends involving the growing influence of anthropological methods within business research. On the one hand, qualitative methods are being adopted by those who were initially trained in the business disciplines. At the same time, actual anthropologists are joining business schools and the practitioner world. Consulting firms that specialize in qualitative research and anthropological methods are springing up. This is an exciting time for those who are interested in this kind of research. This book was written to help clarify the complexity that is arising.
The book begins by laying a foundation for understanding the current era of business anthropology. As indicated, formal and quantitative methods have long dominated business research. In addition, many leaders and organizations were weakened by ethnocentricity and a lack of cultural understanding. Today the cultural sensitivity of the qualitative methods of anthropology is making organizations increasingly aware of social frameworks that trigger responses. These contributions are much needed and welcomed.
Originally focusing on the workplace, the glimmerings of business anthropology first emerged through efforts associated with the “human relations school” which, starting in the 1930s, exerted a powerful influence for a generation. During the 1960s and 1970, however the use and respectability of business anthropology declined. Currently, however, anthropologists increasingly serve as business researchers and their culturally sensitive perspectives and methods are valued by decision makers..
Compared with their academic counterparts, business anthropologists typically use more questionnaires although participant observation is a preferred fieldwork method for both. Nonetheless, many qualitative (and occasionally quantitative) methods used by anthropologists contribute to the field and its effectiveness. Culture (both corporate culture and culture at large) exerts a profound influence on organizations. From a practical standpoint, building an awareness of culture and its influences is an important first step in determining how to manage people. The need to envision the social milieu creates a profound role for business anthropologists and their methods.
Ethnography and participant observation are two classic qualitative methods of anthropology. Ethnography involves intimately viewing the interworkings of a social situation and creating a qualitative analysis of it. Participant observation takes place when a person attempts to function within a social situation in order to intuitively understand what is going on. Business anthropologists use these methods in a variety of ways; these tools are often tailored to the needs of a specific situation. Doing so provides invaluable cultural clues.
Besides helping decision makers to better understand workers and organizations, business anthropology can help explain consumer behavior. Anthropology, as a social science, emphasizes individual behavior within cultural contexts and with reference to shared values, beliefs, values, etc. Anthropology is positioned to create actionable recommendations and interpretations regarding target markets by gathering and processing detailed qualitative information and interpreting this evidence using culturally relevant insights and theories.
The development of new products is critical. The strategies used to do so often require multidisciplinary knowledge and collaboration. The challenges and needs of the contemporary design industry provide exciting and lucrative opportunities for anthropologists because understanding customers, what they want, and how they will use new products is vital.
Some research tasks are qualitative and anthropologists are well prepared to gather and assess valuable information using culturally sensitive, non-quantitative techniques. Competitive intelligence typically involves a sophisticated combination of secondary research and interviewing knowledgeable informants. The theories and methods of anthropology have great potentials in fields such as competitive intelligence and knowledge management.
Since 1980, the world has experienced profound changes due to advances in technology and an exponential increase in international travel and communication. These trends create both risks and opportunities for firms that understand the cultural implications of these transformations. In this global age, anthropologists have a profound role to play. International business provides a wide array of opportunities for anthropologists who possess intercultural knowledge coupled with a strategic focus.
Entrepreneurs play an increasingly important role in business and are a dynamic force of innovation and change. Anthropological studies of entrepreneurship are making a significant contribution to anthropology, business, policy science, leadership, and economic development. The qualitative methodologies of anthropologists and their culturally centered views provide reliable and effective ways to study the entrepreneur process.
In summary, the qualitative methods of anthropology (and adapting them to the needs of business) provide a vital toolkit that has emerged as a different but equal alternative to more quantitative alternatives. A wide variety of applications ranging from employee behavior to consumer response to entrepreneurship are gaining prominence. Because of the relevance of strategic decision making, business anthropology will continue to grow and gain prestige within the marketplace and the shop floor.
Alf H. Walle III
Galen University
Feb. 2010 in San Ignacio , Belize
Product Details
- Hardcover: 636 pages
- Publisher: North American Business Press (August 16, 2010)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0982843402
- ISBN-13: 978-0982843406
- Product Dimensions: 10 x 7 x 1.3 inches
- Shipping Weight: 2.9 pounds
PERSPECTIVES IN CONSUMER BEHAVIOR: AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL APPROACH
This book discusses and studies anthropological approach on consumer behavior by three main authors: Dr. Z. S. Demirdjian, Dr. Turan Senguder and Dr. Robert G. Tian. The book is divided into four main parts. Part I deals with the evolutionary changes in the consumer behavior field since its humble beginnings in the 1960s. Part II provides a cross-cultural understanding of the nature of consumer behavior from the anthropological approach. Part III demonstrates how members of subcultures differ from mainstream consumers in terms of their preferences for products and services. Part IV presents a collection of anthropological case studies in the food service industry. These articles, therefore, run the gamut from theory to practice of consumer behavior.
Although several textbooks have been written based on anthropological approaches, this is the first readings book of its kind because the entire content focuses on the anthropological approach to study, teaching, and researching consumer behavior. It is hoped that this volume will fill an important gap in consumer behavior literature.
About authors: Dr. Z. S. Demirdjian: Professor of business administration at the University of California. Dr. Turan Senguder: Executive Chair of the Journal of American Academy of Business, Cambridge. Dr. Robert G. Tian: Professor of business administration at Medaille College.。
（PERSPECTIVES IN CONSUMER BEHAVIOR, Fellows Press of America，November, 2007）
Canadian Chinese, Chinese Canadians: Coping and Adapting in North America
This work examines how mainland Chinese refugees (MCRs) under diaspora conditions, indentify themselves and adapt to their new environment in Canada. It probes how MCRs draw upon and reflect transnational social fields or imagined communities. The book, as Dr. Gladney indicates in the preface, generates a new watershed in the study of overseas Chinese and other diasporic informal immigrants communities in that it has been produced by a member of one of these new global tribes. It helps us understand why these people would rather lose their achivements in their home countries and come to a new environment to construct their lives with uncertainty. The methods that the author employed are very impresive and contributed to the ethnographic studies by a tribe member studing that tribe.
泛市场化批判: 发展中国特色社会主义, 建设创新型国家的经济学思考
由中国共产党第二代领导核心邓小平及其同事发起领导的改革开放，迄今为止将近30年了。从历史的视野看，当代中国的改革开放不仅是必须的而且也是必然的。正是这场波澜壮阔的改革开放，将中华民族推向了人类历史的新纪元，使得中国成为一个在国际事务上地位越来越重要的民族国家，并在很大程度上促进了世界的和平与发展。与此同时，中国经济对国际资金，技术，和市场的依赖程度，也日益增加，从而提高了中国改革开放过程的机会成本。本书从多种角度对曾经一个时期盛行于中国的一种泛市场化思潮进行了比较深刻的分析和批判，认为在特定的社会历史条件下，中国不能走完全市场化或泛市场化的改革和发展道路，而应努力塑造和发展具有中国特色的社会主义市场经济导向的改革模式。作者指出，泛市场化思潮的谬误在于否定改革的目标，割裂了人类发展是一个由多种文明联系在一起的社会发展过程，企图将改革的总体实施引向一个仅仅是市场化的经济范畴内，显然背离了改革开放的战略大方向。
作者指出，中国的经济改革是一个没有稳定参照系的经济制度重构，是在缺乏成熟的或权威性理论指导下的改革。虽然改革开放的总设计师邓小平指出了一条前景光明的道路，但是主观的设想与实际情况总是有差别，因此，在实际进程中难以避免地出现了某些失误。而造成这些失误的最主要的思想根源就是形形色色的泛市场化的谬论，因此要纠正改革开放过程中的一系列失误，就必须彻底肃清泛市场化思潮的流毒。在深刻分析批判泛市场化经济改革思潮的基础上，作者还就如何完成中共十七大提出的发展中国特色社会主义，建设创新型国家的战略任务，提出了一些可供决策参考的建议。
本书的作者田广博士，曾就读于中国中央民族大学经济所并获取硕士学位，毕业后在中国经济体制改革研究所区域室从事中国西部地区经济发展和体制改革研究。1990年赴加拿大留学，先后获YORK大学经济与社会人类学博士，WILFRID LAURIER大学工商管理硕士(MBA)学位，1999年以杰出人才资格移民美国，现为纽约一间私立大学终身教授，从事经济学和市场营销教学与研究。
（《泛市场化批判 - 发展中国特色社会主义, 建设创新型国家的经济学思考》，田广著，美国溪流出版社 www.fellowspress.com，2008年4月出版。）
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