Business Anthropologists in the Business World: Our Troops and Our Future

IJBA Vol. 2 (1) Editorial Commentary

Anthropology is a discipline that has developed a wide array of qualitative techniques for understanding people and their behavior over the last hundred or so years.  Although toolkit of anthropology is broad, flexible, and illuminating,  for many years, these analytic methods were treated as second class citizens within the business world because research tastes were skewed towards quantitative and so called “rigorous scientific” methods.  Less formal techniques, such as those that distinguish anthropology, used not to be considered respectable by the business professionals in the past.  However, that kind of perspective is proved to be inaccurate by the business anthropologists all over the world and thus becomes past tense (Walle 2010) 

The fast advancement of technology in the last two decades has helped business to expend in all the industries and led the new trend of continuously growing of complex organizations.  At the same time consumers have become less easily accessible or satisfied by the existing products and services, which requests the business firms must continuously improve their business models as well as consciously modify their existing products and services to satisfy their customers.  The interactions between producers and consumers become even more important than ever before to the business firms to be profitable, the traditional ways of doing business become less effective and the new ways of doing business become primary concerns to the business leaders everywhere in the world.  The changing business environments and conditions have created unpredictable opportunities for anthropologists whose anthropological knowledge and techniques enable them to play a distinctive role in today’s business world and create a new field of study termed as business anthropology (Jordan 2003 and 2010, Tian, Lillis, and van Marrewijk 2010).

Business anthropology is defined as a practical oriented scholastic field in which business anthropologists apply anthropological theories and methods to identify and solve real business problems in everyday life.  Business anthropologists are all those anthropologists who study the business fields of management, operations, marketing, consumer behavior, organizational culture, human resources management, international business, and so on through anthropological methods, particularly through ethnographic methods, such as participant observation, informal and structured interviews, and other anthropological based research methods (Baba 2006). Business anthropologists are able to play key roles in the business world, by helping corporations develop culturally appropriate ways of doing business with suppliers, business partners, or customers.  Promoting smooth working relationships among employees who are more and more likely, thanks to recent equal opportunity employment legislation, to represent different age groups, ethnic groups, and both sexes (Aguilera 1996, Ferraro 1998).

Dr. Ann Jordan, one of the flagship leading scholars in the field of business anthropology, stresses that business anthropologists tap various sources of information by getting to know the people within the organization. Business anthropologists take a “holistic” approach, study old realities in new ways, and understand the value of diverse groups in terms of culture differences, doing their work in both for-profit and nonprofit organizations (Jordan 2003). It is estimated that in today’s world there are several thousand well-qualified anthropologists working in business organizations of one sort or another. Business anthropology is turned to be the most appropriate way for scholars and businessmen alike to understand why and how people around them do as they do, why and how organizations function in the ways that they function, as well as why and how consumers choose to purchase the goods and services that they prefer (Tian 2010, van Marrewijk 2010). As the result the business anthropologists are employed as faculty members in universities and business schools from Asia to America, from Europe to Africa.  

Dozens of existing academic journals devoted to publishing various aspects of scholastic works by anthropologists in different fields all over the world. Most of these journals are concerned with the traditional studies by anthropologists, such as: cultures, ethnicity, kinship and economic organization, political relations, ethnic mobilizations, networks, magic, ritual, symbolism, and so on. Some of these journals are prepared to consider articles by anthropologists on newer themes in the production and consumption of media forms, such as the Internet and so forth. A few such kind of journals publish articles about business more generally. The International Journal of Business Anthropology, compared with these traditionally oriented academic journals, is a unique and dedicated journal for business anthropologists.  The authorship and readership that make up our troops are included, but not limited to, all scholars and practitioners who use anthropological theories and methods to study and to solve the real business problems in the real business world.

Our troops are growing along with the growth of the business world, our future is obviously closely connected with the future development of business.  Technologies advances and globalization not only change the way people do business but also the way they think about it.  Firms must rethink what they offer, how they listen, with whom they collaborate, what they say, what they do, how their promises will be viewed.  Anthropology is well positioned to provide all these kinds of insights.   We are very excited about the growth of business anthropology as a field of study, we are very positive that this growing field will be employing many more anthropologists in the future.  We believe that in this globalized world in which we live, there is a great need for anthropologists in business consulting, organizational behavior, human resources management, competitive intelligence, globalization, product design and development, marketing, and consumer behavior studies.

In this new issue we selected seven articles from a large submissions to publish.  Dr. Brian Moeran displays a considerable knowledge about the processes of cultural production, exploring and delineating, the effects of a range of constraints on what he termed as “creativity.” Dr. Moeran explores the concept of creativity and its production in the context of several “creative industries”, include advertising, fashion, and craft production. He argues that the concept of creativity now has a certain cache, given the rise of “creative hubs” and “creative cities”, but is taken for granted by actors in creative industries as well as social scientists studying these industries. Framed in this way, Dr. Moeran’s paper is relevant and promises to be useful for mapping out a number of relationships that will help to develop a sharper understanding of the concept of creativity and cultural production.

Dr. Alf Walle probes the role that business anthropologists can have in facilitating the intellectual rights of indigenous people.  He argues that indigenous people have something of value (heritage) that they want to protect and at the same time exploit, but the current typical legal system of intellectual property rights affords them no protection, no property rights in their own heritage. However, others are financially profiting from this heritage, creating an unjust situation. Dr. Walle suggests that anthropologists working in the capacity of business anthropologists can have a substantial role in ensuring the indigenous peoples’ systems of intellectual ownership are respected and considered side by side with mainstream intellectual regimes. 

Dr. Hsain Ilahiane explores ways in which urban micro-entrepreneurs use the mobile phone as a tool to organize a newly networked work life.  He argues that mobile phone use expands the productive opportunities of certain types of activities by enhancing social networks, reducing risks associated with employment seeking, and enabling bricolage or freelance service work, leading to higher incomes.  Dr. Ilahiane reveals how the use of mobile phones for bricolage jobs begins to transform, rather than simply augment and reinforce, the social and economic ties of micro-entrepreneurs.  He looks at ways in which the mobile phone is distinct from traditional technologies. Dr. Ilahiane’s findings highlight new approaches to think about designing innovative mobile applications to serve the needs of micro-entrepreneurs in the developing world. 

In their article “Cross-Cultural Personality and Values: A Case Study of Mongolian Vs Taiwanese Doctors and Nurses”, Dr. Tain-Fung Wu, Munkh-Ulzii Batmunkh, and Alex S. R. Lai appraise various differences in cross-cultural attributes concerning personality and values between the North and the Southeast Asians. They provide an empirical exploration of Taiwanese and Mongolian respondents working in medical contexts through variables of personality and culture.  They contend that personality and value have been considered significant indicators in predicting personal behavior. Their findings make the contribution to measuring personality and values within the perspective of cross-culture differences.

Xingying Zhou and Liangmei Yu provide a case study on Chinese immigrant in the US labor market.  They take the immigrants from Guantou Town, Fujian Province, China, as the target group to explore how they acculturate in the American labor market. The immigrants under their discussion have a strong desire to join the main stream society of America for a better life, however, with a number of limitations, in particular, inadequate understanding of the target culture, low competence of the target language, low level of education, and wrong life expectation, they tend to adopt the strategies of separation or marginalization in the process of acculturation, thus resulting in great stress and dissatisfaction.

Dr. Fernanda Duarte uses the concept of organizational culture to understand the culture of corporate social responsibility in a Brazilian Mining Corporation and provides a theoretical underpinning followed by a detailed description of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in practice. Dr. Duarte, based on an exploratory study carried out in 2008 on a Brazilian mining corporation, contributes to the field of business anthropology by applying the notion of organizational culture within the specific context of CSR. She argues that organizations that consciously embrace values such as social justice and environmental sustainability develop rich “CSR cultures” over time with specific structures, practices and symbolic manifestations. This type of organizational culture shapes the company’s identity, purpose and outlook, generating unique histories and meanings.  Dr. Duarte enhances our understanding of how CSR is manifested culturally and the analysis can be extended to other types of companies, both those that succeed and fail at CSR.

The article by Dr. Gao Chong is an ethnographic case study on petty entrepreneurs in garment industry in Guangzhou, China. It examines the economic implications of Chinese kinship towards everyday business operations. Dr. Gao argues that over the past decades, the anthropological study of Chinese kinship often emphasizes on its sociocultural functioning to understand the organization and structure of Chinese society but the economic benefits and returns from the involvement of kinship are underestimated and even neglected. He studies why, how, and to which extent, the kinship is involved in a concrete and ongoing business process, and illustrates how the mobilization of kinship brings competitive advantages for petty entrepreneurs.

Again, the quality of the articles submitted and the sophistication of theoretical analysis may already indicate overcoming the division between academia and applied anthropology. We leave the readers to determine this, for this issue and following issues. We continuously seek articles by anthropologically-oriented scholars and practitioners on topics such as general business anthropology theories and methods, marketing, consumer behavior, organization culture, human resources management, cross cultural management etc. Regionally focused contributions are welcome, especially when their findings can be generalized. We encourage practitioners, students, community, and faculty members to submit theoretical articles, case studies, commentaries and reviews. Please send manuscripts, news notes and correspondence to: Dr. Robert Guang Tian, Editor, IJBA, via e-mail to ijba@na-businesspress.com, or rgtian@yahoo.com (Robert G. Tian, Daming Zhou, and Alfons H. van Marrewijk)

International Journal of Business Anthropology is included in Cabell's Dirctory

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With some exceptions, a refereed article is one that is blind reviewed and has two external reviewers. The blind review requirement and the use of external reviewers are consistent with the research criteria of objectivity and of knowledge.

The use of a blind review process means that the author of the manuscript is not made known to the reviewer. With the large number of reviewers and journals, it is also likely that the name of the reviewers for a particular manuscript is not made known to the author. Thus, creating a double blind review process. Since the author and reviewers are frequently unknown, the manuscript is judged on its merits rather than on the reputation of the author and/or the author's influence on the reviewers.

The use of two (2) reviewers permits specialists familiar with research similar to that presented in the paper to judge whether the paper makes a contribution to the advancement of knowledge. When two reviewers are used it provides a broader perspective for evaluating the research. This perspective is further widened by the discussion between the editor and reviewers in seeking to reconcile these perspectives.

In contrast to these criteria, some journals that have attained a reputation for quality do not use either a blind review process or external reviewers. The most notable is Harvard Business Review that uses an editorial review process. Its reputation for quality results from its readership whose continual subscription attests to its quality.

In addition to these criteria, some researchers include the journal's acceptance rate in their definition of a refereed journal. However, the method of calculating acceptance rates varies among journals. Some journals use all manuscripts received as a base for computing this rate. Other journals allow the editor to choose which papers are sent to reviewers and calculate the acceptance rate on those that are reviewed. Also, many editors do not maintain accurate records on this data and provide only a rough estimate.

Furthermore, the number of people associated with a particular area of specialization influences the acceptance rate. If only a few people can write papers in an area, it tends to increase the journal's acceptance rate.

Although the type of review process and use of external reviewers is one possible definition of a refereed article, it is not the only criteria. Judging the usefulness of a journal to the advancement of knowledge requires the reader to be familiar with many journals in their specialization and make their own evaluations.

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Discussions on Business Anthropology Association and Employment

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Robert,

Thank you for this. If I may add  a humble note (Robert is the expert in Business Anthropology, I am a newcomer) where I think business anthropology students could also gain greater chances of employability is also in the area of qual marketing & consumer research. This could be done through greater connection with the associations of qualitative research found all over the world:http://www.aqr.org.uk/country/index.shtml
 Each of these associations sometimes congregates over 100 something companies of qual researchers using ethnographic/qual methods in commercial research. This is obviously not the only one way, but one way for employment of business anthropologists. I strongly believe an association being formed to certify business anthropologists should make a bridge with AQRs all over the world.

Thank you.
Pedro http://appliedbusinessanthropology.blogspot.com/

Pedro:

To have an association will take time and energy.   We need to get a sponsor for that end.  Perhaps we can start to prepare for it.   In the US there are some business consulting firms run by anthropologists, I planned to visit them in the summer of 2010 but did not make it due to my busy schedule.   I will try my best to visit them next summer.

It is important that we have an association for business anthropologists.   It will be difficult at the very beginning, we may get some critics from other anthropologists but slowly we will be successful.  Anthropology in academia world is in crisis, which is clear but most of us just do not want to admit it, one fact to support my statement is that the majority of anthropology PhDs could not get employed after their graduation but we still create more and more PhDs.  To be honest if I did not get an MBA after my PhD in anthropology I might still unemployed as no one will provide me a job with my education background. 

Business anthropology opened a door to the students in anthropology although some of them may still get employed in the academia field.  Your own experience has added another case in the line, right?

Good discussion and hope that more of our anthropological fellows can join us.

Robert

Good day, all!

Please allow me to pipe up in response to this thread (I am new to the group!). I am very intrigued by the idea of an Association for Business Anthropologists and would be very happy to assist in planning, etc. I am a passionate Business Anthropologist who has yet to find her niche and strongly believe that strength comes in numbers (an Association would certainly allow for that). Additionally, the greatest challenge I have faced upon graduation from my Master's program in '08 (graduated with a M.S. in Applied Anthropology with a business focus, just for you to have some background knowledge about me) is communicating/translating the skills of a Business Anthropologist to positions marked for those in mainstream fields. It seems that Business Anthropologists need to come together and create a fabulous marketing plan to educate businesses and HR representative and execute it across the U.S. and world!

Regardless, I look forward to getting to know you all and participating in this forum. I am always interested in knowledge sharing, brainstorming and chatting about anything related to Anthropology!

Best,

Lauri M. Lillie, M.S.

Greetings,

I too am a new member to the group and thought I would throw in my story as an anthropologist employed in the business world. I am in the writing phase of my PhD in anthropology (with a consumer focused dissertation), and I work for General Mills in their Consumer Insights division. I also worked for 3 years as an Ethnographic Analist for a research supplier called The Hartman Group based in Bellevue, WA. Most of the people I know (myself included) who are anthropologists who work in business contexts didn't actually plan careers in business, but had somewhat circuitous paths, which makes it hard for me to give advice to aspiring business anthropologists! I will just say that there are opportunities out there and it seems to me that those opportunities are growing in a time when academic opportunities seem to be shrinking. I think that ways for aspiring business anthropologists - through a forum like this or an association are positive ways to help prepare and connect people interested in the field. I am happy to talk more about my particular experiences if anyone is interested - feel free to send me a message!

Best wishes,

Arwen Kimmell

Arwen:

Thank you for the information and your comments.  Recently I attended AAA annual meeting, in the meeting there was a group discussed about business anthropology.  I made a short comment by saying that in our discipline we have some heroes as individual to work in the business world but as whole we are failure to market our discipline to the business world. The truth is that more and more anthropology departments cannot help their Ph. D. students get jobs after their graduation.  Anthropology as academia field can host fewer and fewer individuals with Ph. D. but the business world can absorb unlimited professionals with Ph. D. in anthropology.  We need to work as a team to mark ourselves.  Years ago,  when I taught at a college in south Carolina business program I was insulted by not treating the courses I taught as taught by Ph. D. faculty member.  I believe nobody can help us but only we can help ourselves by ourselves.

An association is definitely important but we need a core group as the flagship in the filed and get those individual heroes to help by standing out and organize the association. 

Robert

Do We Need Business Anthropology?

Do We Need Business Anthropology? A Discussion by the Business Anthropologist Group

Dear Colleagues:

Business Anthropology is a very new subfield in both business and social science; it is growing very fast in recent years.  However, what is business anthropology is an issue that still needs to be clarified.  Do we need business anthropology?  How can we develop business anthropology?  What we can do and how should we do to promote business anthropology?

I hope you can invite more of your friends and colleagues to join in this discussion.

Robert

To join the discussion group go to my blog:  http://businessanthropology.blogspot.com/  clik the button under the picture of tractors in the first post. 

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David:

Your mail has arrived to the group.  I am wondering if you can lead us to discuss on how anthropology helped you in doing your business and provide us some suggestions as how to improve the relationship between academic world and the business world.

Thank you.

Robert

Robert,
The question of how to merge the academic world with the real world is
complicated.

In the academic world writers and professors are hung up on labels and
definitions. In the real world we don't care what you call it as long as it gets
done.

In the academic world we talk about business anthropology and studying what
customers do and don't do. We get hung up on labels such as is a person
motivated to make a purchase or did we inspire them to make the purchase?

In the real world of business we rely on Point of Sale (POS) data to tell us
what we sold, at what price and when. This helps us to plot trends over time and
see changes on the horizon.

The academic world has customer intercepts as a way to gain information. There
is a problem with this. First of all most customers don't really know why the
bought something. Also, in my experience most of these customer intercepts are
performed by small, young college kids. A 6' 2" tall 250 pound person like me is
never stopped. For some reason I intimidate pollsters. Mostly what you see in
these intercepts is young mother pushing baby strollers. I have seen people who
were supposed to gather data get together and find that some key demographics
were missing so they simply made up data as to what they thought would be the
opinion of that group.

With our modern technology we have the ability to use our video cameras to
target and track customers as they travel through the store. We can see at what
time the enter the store, where they visit in the store and then see the point
of sale data on the same screen with the video. A truly great tool.

I think probably the best combining of the academic world and the real world
would be for everyone to call upon their common sense to make business
decisions. The parable of the hot dog and Jerry Clower's story of the inventory
are both prime examples of forgetting common sense and following academic
principles. It takes both.

One of my professors who was very helpful to actually had a business that dealt
with his subject, accounting. He was helpful because he could tell you what you
should really "take away" from what you were learning.

I once worked with the U.S. Chamber of commerce. I met many small business
people who had been helped, some would say hurt, by the Small Business
Administration (SBA). Many of them would tell me that they had pseudo government
officials tell them how to run their business. They would follow their advice
and end up worse off.

In short, if you want to be an business professor, it would be a good idea to
get some real world experience. Take a job in a small business. Volunteer to
work without pay if necessary. Ask to see the books. Then observe for a long
time before you make suggestions. Some businesses succeed in spite of
themselves.

I had a friend whose father owned a small appliance company that catered
exclusively to builders. When the father died the son decided that they should
move the business and begin to cater to the consumer market. The lost
everything. Why? Because the son acted on advice before he understood what made
the business a success.

David E. McClendon Sr.

Dear David,

Thank you for this email and starting the discussions on this list. I appreciate all your points, yet I am also thinking of Genevieve Bell, for example, as a former academic who turned her back on the academic world and learned to read Intel both from a business and an anthropological (/academic) point of view. Although I can see the dicothomy between experience and practice you refer to, I am also thinking that perhaps trajectories in business anthropology and associated fields are a bit more diverse than the dicothomy you describe?

Regards, Pedro  

Pedro:

I agree with you that there are various relationships between academic world and real business world.  I do not think Michale Porter has ever been a business owner or business operator himself but he works as business consultant and made strategic plans for the large companies.  Also, some business owners who may never take business courses at college but they can be successful business operators.  Ideally academic persons should have some business practice while the business owners should have some kind formal training in business school, but that in many cases that may be impossible. 

Business anthropologists are fundamentally scholars first, their job is to use their anthropological skills and knowledge to study businesses and to help businesses with their best.  They could make mistakes, but to be honestly, no one can be always right. 

Robert

Hi Robert and all,

Thanks for this, Robert.

Taking from what you said, you and I have already discussed the question of validity a few times but I keep wondering whether what we need as business anthropology researchers (and I am very freely calling myself one, has someone who has just joined the field working on my first business anthropology case) is a more precise analysis of how we come up with the conclusions that we come up with, as business anthropology researchers. How do we analyse data to conclude what we do? Can we find common sensical ways of explaining to the client how we draw our conclusions from the data found so that the client too can form an image of the validity of our findings?

I keep believing this should give us a far clearer view of the kind of solutions we suggest and the risk hazards associated to them. That analysis cannot sacrifice the serendipity of findings by which people like Susan Squires and others keep suggesting all sorts of fundamental clues for new business solutions based on a combination of ethnographic encounters and other methodologies (triangulation). Yet I am inclined to agree with David that many of these processes of research that we label 'academic' are already put to empirical use by people who are not academics (I see it in my father every day).  

Having said all of this, a conference bringing together academics and practitioners of business anthropology would be fundamental to start answering some of the questions that David very rightly puts to the fore.  

Regards, P.

Everyone,

I think most business uses some form of anthropology. They just don't call it
that. When a small business owner observes how customers interact with the
environment the business has created that is a form of anthropology
(Ethnographics?)

Very rarely will a small business owner conduct a formal survey but he or she
may simply ask their customers what they like about the business or don't like.

Most people will tell a survey taker what they think is the right answer and not
necessarily what they really feel. However, if they think a small business owner
is sincerely asking they may provide the truth. On the other hand they may wish
not to offend the business owner and tell them that everything is fine. It is
for this reason that in my area we primarily use observation and point of sale
data. It is very helpful. We also use a lot of trial and error. We move stuff
and see what happens.

One thing my wife Suzanne taught me is that sometimes conventional thought isn't
always right. She reorganized a beer cooler in a convenience store we were
working for. The beer company marketers flipped out. They said that you had to
have the premium beers right beside each other, the standard beers right beside
each other and so forth. The owner stood by Suzanne's decision and the beer
sales went up 30%. Once the beer sales went up people from the corporate office
for Miller Coors and Anheuser Busch came and took pictures so that they could
determine why the sales went up when it was laid out all wrong according to
their years of study.

What I learned through observation and just plain asking customers is that in a
small mom and pop store where almost 100% of the customers are regulars, it
really doesn't matter where you put the beer as long as they could find their
beer. When they came in they knew exactly what beer they wanted. As long as the
beer they wanted was on the shelf they bought that beer. Never would they
deviate from their brand of choice. That is until the economy took a nose dive
and almost everyone switched to a cheaper beer.

So, what explained the increase in sales? When Suzanne organized the cooler she
found that there was a lot of wasted space. She moved shelves and squeezed every
inch of wasted space out. In the new found space she added specialty beers.
Since no other convenience store in town was actively monitoring their cooler
and space usage or offerings she was able to provide for a very popular mix of
beers for the college age crowd. People who had not yet found what they wanted
but knew they did not want to drink their father's brand of beer.

When Suzanne left the beer companies offered to rearrange the cooler for free.
The owner thought he had to (English as a second language) so he allowed it.
Beer sales fell by about 50% for two reasons. The mix was gone and the beer was
not kept in stock because no one was actively monitoring the sales.

When the only tool in your tool box is a hammer every problem looks like a nail.
I say this meaning that it takes more than just one discipline to run a
business. Anthropology is a tool as is marketing, accounting, financial
management, consumer behavior, Economics, etc. Each one of these tools has a
place in the business owner's tool box. If he is missing one of them he has to
make due with what he has. This means that some key elements may go un-addressed
and the business is not as good as it could be. Most small business owners,
though not formally trained, possess many if not all of those skills.

David

Dear friends and colleagues:

Before I set up this discussion group I was not aware of any such an online group existed.  The business anthropology is fast growing but we do not have a platform for it.  As such a few business anthropological scholars decided to launch a journal entitled International Journal of Business Anthropology, which has been published 2 issues so far.  One of my contact suggested that we should have an online discussion group and then I set up this group.  So far we had a few very interesting discussions but we need more members to join us so that we will have a large number of memberships to support our discussion.  Please help us to grow by using your personal connections, such as your face book, your emails, and so on.

Our textbook "General Business Anthropology"  is published, if interested in more information about it please contact me and I will provide you the detailed information.

Have a good weekend!

Robert

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What is Business Anthropology?

The term "business anthropology" became more popular and widely used in the 1980s, when anthropologists were hired in full-time, non-academic practitioners in niches related to consumer behavior and marketing. Prior to that time, the term "industrial anthropology", "anthropology of work", or "applied anthropology in industry" were used more frequently to denote areas of research and practice focused on business related phenomenon. More recently, the term ‘business anthropology’ has begun to be used more generically to refer any application of anthropology to business-oriented problems. Currently “business anthropology” is recognized as a subfield of the discipline in applied anthropology.

Business anthropology professors at Wayne State University define business anthropology as applying anthropological theories and practices to the needs of private sector organizations, especially industrial firms. Current research initiatives in the field tend to be concentrated in (1) marketing and consumer behavior, (2) organizational theory and culture, (3) international business, especially international marketing, intercultural management, as well as intercultural communication, and (4) product design and development. Of course due to the nature of anthropology the implication of anthropology in the business world is unlimited, it can be extended to all the function areas of business. Accordingly, we define business anthropology as a practical oriented scholastic field in which business anthropologists apply anthropological theories and methods to identify and solve real business problems in everyday life.

Moreover, we define business anthropologists as all those anthropologists who study business fields of management, operations, marketing, product design and development, consumer behavior, organizational culture, human resources management, international business, and so on, through anthropological methods, particularly through ethnographic methods, such as participant observation, informal and structured interviews, and other anthropological based research methods. Business anthropologists are able to play key roles in business world, such as help corporations develop culturally appropriate ways of doing business with suppliers, business partners, or customers; promote smooth working relationships among employees who are more and more likely, thanks to recent equal opportunity employment legislation, to represent different age groups, ethnic groups, and both sexes.

In practice, business anthropologists study almost everything from marketing strategies to corporate culture, to business development. For instance, University of Toronto anthropologist Dr. Victor Barac has worked with Mutual of Omaha Insurance to update its advertising strategies and with the Canadian film industry in a project that entailed visiting theatres observing everything from snack buying patterns to which posters drew people’s attention, and interviewing patrons about their attitudes and experiences. Business anthropologists can also facilitate organizational restructuring for greater economy and efficiency. In the next section we will discuss more in details about the function and role business anthropologists in the modern business world.

Business and industry are fundamental structures of organizing economic activity to meet basic human needs in modern market societies. For Baba, business means the buying and selling of goods and services in the marketplace, also known as commerce or trade, while industry refers to the organized production of goods and services on a large scale, it consists of all the business firms produce and marketing the same product. These terms, when used by business anthropologists in their practice usually are related to one or more of the three major domains of business anthropological research and practice, namely 1) anthropology related to the process of producing goods and services, and the corporate organizations in which production takes place; 2) ethnographically-informed design of new products, services and systems for consumers and businesses, and/or 3) anthropology related to the behavior of consumers and the marketplace.

Today, business anthropology as subfield of applied anthropology is not only taught in graduate programs in anthropology but also included in the curricula of a number of American universities offering the MBA (Master’s in Business Administration) degree. It is perhaps surprising, therefore, that the old association of business anthropology with a lack of concern for human welfare still persists today among some academic anthropologists. As business anthropologist Marietta Baba puts it “business (still)… doesn’t sit well with most anthropologists”. This attitude may reflect a lack of understanding and appreciation, on the part of academic anthropologists, of the skills and contributions of business anthropologists. If so, it is sure to continue to weaken with time. However, to the extent that this attitude reflects a more widespread phenomenon – some academics’ general disparagement of any kind of intellectual output other than the theoretical – it may never entirely disappear.

Business anthropologists at Wayen State University have successfully integrated anthropology with business education by offering business anthropology courses and programs at the University. They indicate that research has shown that failures in the international business settings frequently result from an inability to understand and adapt to foreign ways of thinking and acting. The world, furthermore, is changing quickly and decision makers need to understand these developments and their implications. Utilizing anthropologists and anthropological methods are important avenues for addressing these issues. While an understanding of the cultural context of domestic business is invaluable, the importance of culture is even more vital within the international sphere. After all, in international business the magnitude of the cultural differences is vastly greater than in domestic situations and, as a result, the potential for misunderstanding or inappropriate actions/decisions is multiplied. When studying both domestic and foreign societies, anthropologists are especially skilled in finding and explaining patterns of behavior that impact strategies and tactics. This focus can be used to improve business operations.

In fact, Jordan has observed that since the 1980s anthropology’s influence within business schools has grown. Given the increased role of business anthropology, it needs to be more fully introduced in business education. Anthropologists in business schools have played an important role in the development of consumer studies within business education. For example, Jerry Saltman and Grant McCracken at Harvard, John Sherry at Northwestern, Eric Arnould at the University of Nebraska/Lincoln, Barbara Olsen at State University of New York-Old Westbury, Janeen Costa at the University of Utah, and Annamma Joy at Concordia are examples of anthropologists who have impacted the business education community. On the other hand, business faculty like Ron Hill and Carol Kaufman-Scarborough, who received their training from business schools, have embraced the ethnographic method and employed it in their business research. Myself as a business professors had successfully worked with my colleagues in the business departments at two small comprehensive colleges and put business anthropology into business program curricula. I have also used anthropological approach to teach other business courses, especially consumer behavior and marketing research courses. I expect to work with my colleagues in the business education field in large to make business anthropology as one of the basic or fundamental business courses at more and more business schools.

There is an online discussion group about business anthorpology, if you are interested please join in the group by cliking the button below and then register for your membership.  Let us work together to develop the field of business anthropology. 

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Business Anthropology as a Career

Students majored in anthropology often feel puzzled about their career after graduation, one undergraduate student wrote to a graduate student who is doing well in the field of business anthropology for advice: “I was wondering how you became a business anthropologist.  I have my Bachelors in Anthropology and I have always loved the subject. I tutored for this subject in my JC and I am considering a Masters in Anthropology, but what then? I do love the school atmosphere so perhaps I will teach or work in a museum, but what are your thoughts? How did you find your ‘niche’? Thanks.”  The graduate student answered the undergraduate student’s question with his suggestion to the undergraduate student as quoted below:

“I have a master’s [degree] in a narrow field of Anthropology called Proximics and in the process of doing the research for the thesis, I found a whole area of untapped need  in business anthropology.  This area can be used in a broad sense in business or more specifically in helping design more appealing business situations such as retail stores.  In a more broad sense, knowing cultures and understanding the nuances of culture have allowed me to work in the international purchasing field for many years.  Negotiating all types of business deals (and a few political ones) to help resolve differences and get signatures on paper.    Teaching is an honorable profession and I have done so in the past. I plan to return to it at some point.

“You ask how I found my niche.  It was somewhat by accident and political climate at the time.  I was working in Archaeology for the most part and the funding dried up.  I had worked in the University purchasing department and had enjoyed my time there and though that it would work well with a master’s [degree] in Anthropology so headed in this direction.  I also studied several languages with the hope of doing international work and as it so happened, it did.  For you, what is your favorite area?  Focus on this and then look how it can be applied in the larger world.”

More and more parents are asking their children enrolled at colleges some very practical questions directly connected with their future career plans as the costs of college education continuing to skyrocket.  For example, parents often want to know why their children are majoring in anthropology.  Ferraro indicates that usually behind such a question is the more pragmatic one: What kind of job can you get with a B.A. in anthropology?

Anthropology and Job Market

It is very normal that the parents of students with anthropological major concern their children’s future careers after graduation given the fact that academic anthropology is a small, elite discipline practiced by a relatively small number of people worldwide. In the past, with the exception of the United States, the number of academic positions for anthropologists has always been limited and very small. As such, the supply of anthropology graduates worldwide has probably outstripped the demand for academic anthropologists since the early 1980s and this helps explain why in the past two decades there has been a significant presence of anthropologists practicing outside the academy.

Anthropologists are in the people business. Any occupation that requires understanding people, such as studying human behavior, assessing people’s opinions, beliefs, or needs, etc., can use anthropology graduates. The American Anthropological Association finds that anthropology graduates are well-qualified for modern government work and increasingly recognized as valuable in the fields of management and international business. For a long time, anthropological skills have been sought in the health and social services fields. Anthropology provides the tools for understanding the multicultural, international, global issues that is basic to our continued existence.

The job market for graduates with anthropology major is based for the most part on demand for persons with skills in social science research meth­odology. However, just as John Van Willigen sharply indicates, the market is not very much aware of anthropologists with these skills and there is a limited market for anthropology graduates. Moreover, although there are many opportunities for professional work, very few are designed strictly for anthropologists. This circumstance is not limited to anthro­pology but is typical of many of the social sciences and humanities.

A degree in anthropology can be the first step toward the attainment of more advanced training in order to become a professor, researcher, or applied anthropologist. Archaeology is a growing area for jobs, because public service archaeology is required by legislation designed to protect our cultural heritage. Physical anthropology is a gateway to a wide range of career path opportunities, including forensics, medicine (especially anatomy and genetics, and primatology.

The prevalence of applied anthropology within the discipline has increased in recent decades, most notably during the 1970s and 1980s. Because of a shrinking academic job market, coupled with federal legislation requiring environmental impact studies and historical preservation, more professionally trained anthropologists are employed in nonacademic positions than in colleges and universities. As more and more Ph.D.-level anthropologists are making their way into nonacademic jobs, employment opportunities for those with less than Ph.D. training in anthropology are also increasing. Today people with training in cultural anthropology are putting their observational and analytical skills to work in a variety of ways in both the public (government) and private (business) sectors of the economy.[vi]

The roles of anthropologists in the non-academic fields could be administrators or managers, consultants, project directors, community service coordinators, and program planners among others. Willis Sibley notes that approximately 50% of anthropologists with their Ph.D. degree find employment outside the academy. [vii]  Accordingly, we can assume that great majority of anthropologists with their master degree and almost all anthropologists with bachelor degree will be employed in non-academic fields.  After graduation with degrees in anthropology some may involve into various forms of private sector consulting (and will have been well-rewarded for doing so), and in fact many of them have ceased to self-identify as anthropologists, often preferring instead the more employable term “management consultant”. Private practice anthropology has thus grown as academic anthropology has either shrunk or remained stable, and as the worldwide wave of economic rationalism has privileged the short-term consultant over the permanent public servant in the countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Ferraro argues that a B.A. in cultural anthropology is a liberal arts degree, just as in most other undergraduate fields of study; it is not some type of professional certification. It is important to keep in mind that an undergraduate degree in anthropology does not prepare a person to become a professional research anthropologist any more than an undergraduate degree in political science equips a person to achieve high political office.  In fact, the B.A. in anthropology will help students get an excellent background for graduate study in anthropology at the Ph.D. level, which is the normal route to becoming a professional anthropologist.[ix]

The globalization of the world economy has brought anthropology and business come together.  In recent decades, especially in North America, anthropology moved from a position of domestic concern with social economic relations in the work place to an international concern because of social and economic change in the world.  But as Gordon notes, at the very beginning the knowledge gained in researching the international issues was not fed back into business through private consulting and the business world, with help from other academic disciplines, responded by creating the new field of management consulting.  And yet, management consultants from time to time were ill-equipped to deal with issues of internationalization and cultures outside the business itself.[x]

Ferraro notes that the term anthropologist or cross-cultural expert is not a standard job Classification in the employment section of a newspaper’s classified ads. In recent decades, however, a number of jobs in both government and industry have developed that focus on certain cross-cultural issues and involve working with people from different cultural and sub-cultural backgrounds. As discussed, anthropological skills can be applied to a number of different professional areas. For example, case studies demonstrated how anthropological skills and insights have been used to help architects design appropriate housing for sub-cultural groups, develop a highly successful reforestation program in Haiti, shed light on the public health aspects of the AIDS epidemic, and provide courts with culturally relevant information for the resolution of legal cases.[xi]

It is possible to be meaningfully employed doing things that are consistent with one’s training in anthropology.  The anthropologist seeking work must be ready to deal with employers who are unfamiliar with the true capabilities of well-trained, contemporary anthro­pologists, or even employers who hold grossly inaccurate stereotypes of the anthropologist’s capabilities. The most adaptive response to these conditions includes a commitment on the part of the anthropologist to educating the employer, and a strategy of self-presentation that is based on experience and ca­pabilities rather than diploma and transcript. This does not represent a problem because these days, except for a very few occupations, it works this way for most everyone.

Ferraro stresses that anthropology graduates are better equipped in certain areas than are those graduating with any other liberal arts degree. First, anthropology graduates are well acquainted with cross-cultural differences and similarities, an area of expertise of particular importance in multicultural societies. This means that anthropology graduates have the ability to “size up” unfamiliar social and professional situations, appreciate the wide range of cultural behavior in the world, and learn how to behave toward people from other cultures with sensitivity, flexibility, and understanding.  Second, training in anthropology instills such qualities as interviewing skills, experience with survey research, observational sharpness, and a holistic perspective. Third, anthropology graduates should have other skills and assets that can be useful to potential employers, such as experience with statistical methods, computer skills, foreign language fluency, and communication skills.  

Once students have a clear understanding of their skills, they are in a good position to tailor their resumes to a particular job opening.  Each student majored in anthropology should be responsible for carving out a spot in the job market for her or himself.  Because no jobs in the nonacademic world are exclusively for culturally oriented, as such it is important for the graduates in cultural anthropology to prepare for the job search by gaining an understanding of the organization offering the job as well as a clear appreciation of what he or she brings to the job situation.[xiii]  Below are some examples of job advertising we collected from National Association for the practice of anthropology’ homepage (http://www.practicinganthropology.org/) that might be interesting to graduates of anthropology:

Cultural Anthropologist

We are looking for Senior Cultural Anthropologists who have experience and references working with world-class brands. We often have projects that require ethnographic research in Russia, China, Japan, India, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, and various countries in Europe. Our current project is to do research in eight of these countries, including the US. Please respond to the email address listed.

Ethnographic Market Research

Ethnographers needed for market research: up to $22/hr!  SmartRevenue (http://www.smartrevenue.com)/ is a market research company founded by cultural anthropologists. Our field researchers generate data using traditional ethnographic fieldwork methods of observation and interviews, as well as structured marketing surveys, to generate insight on consumer preferences and habits. We will be fielding projects soon in cities throughout the US and are in need of ethnographers. We prefer to hire people with anthropological or social science training and ethnographic or qualitative research experience.

The cities scheduled for fielding in the near future are: Boston, Providence, Fairfield County (CT), Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Baltimore/DC, TAmpa, Orlando, Gainsville FL, Miami, Tallahassee, Chicago, Denver, Dallas/Ft Worth, San Antonio, Austin, Houston, LA, San Francisco, Seattle. WE HAVE AN URGENT NEED IN ATLANTA for the end of January.

This is a great opportunity for people with social science backgrounds to practice their ethnographic and writing skills by applying them to a specific task, and to make good money at the same time. SmartRevenue always has a variety of projects planned nationwide, so this could be a helpful future source of supplemental income.

 
Typical Project Description:  SmartRevenue researches shoppers' choices of products. Ethnographers need to interview 15-20 shoppers per store, which usually works out to one day of 8 hours. We often work at 2 or 3 stores per community, so we hire 2 to 4 ethnographers per project. Some projects last 3 or 4 days, some only 1 day, and some projects last several weekends.

Many of the projects require both observation and interviews. Interviews are conducted using a hand-held computer, which we will mail you. Observations are based on your ethnographic training and can include looking at shoppers' behavior, noting signage or other advertisements, or even noting patterns of movement through the area. The details of each job are explained on phone conferences.

 
Interested and qualified applicants should reply to jobs@smartrevenue.com Please attach your resume/CV and describe your availability to work. Also include your city name in your email subject heading. Thank you!

User Experience Strategist

AutoTrader.com, Atlanta, GA   The User Experience group within AutoTrader.com’s Product Management department is responsible for promoting a clear understanding of our customers and for identifying experiences that meet or exceed customer needs. They work closely with Product Management to help define the next generation of products and services that will appear on AutoTrader.com.
The User Experience-Strategy team within User Experience is at the forefront of these efforts, developing a deep understanding of our customers through research and communicating it to product managers, user experience designers, and the product development team.
A User Experience Strategist conducts user research, analyses primary and secondary research, and communicates findings and recommendations to the organization. Personas, scenarios, documents, presentations and one-on-one conversations are used to communicate the value of customer needs throughout the organization. Competitive analyses and best practices are also used to communicate the current environment.
At AutoTrader.com, the User Experience Strategist:
• Designs and conducts user research studies
• Collaboratively analyzes the results of those studies to identify customer needs and business opportunities
• Works closely with our Product Management team to identify new product opportunities and influence the future direction of existing products
• Ensures that the voice of the customer is represented at all phases of product development
• Creates and maintains customer personas, scenarios and mental models
• Researches and documents both competitive assessments and best practices
• Clearly documents all research findings, customer profiles, and recommendations
• Communicates the value of customer needs to the organization
The ideal candidate:
• Has knowledge and experience with current user research methodologies
• Has thorough knowledge of best practices for information architecture, interaction design, usability, and web design (both e-commerce and informational)
• Has knowledge and hands-on experience with user interface evaluation techniques
• Has expertise in gathering, analyzing and synthesizing primary and secondary research
• Is well-versed in user centered design principles and processes
• Has experience in aligning customer needs with business objectives
• Has excellent oral, written, and presentation communication skills
• Can work collaboratively with cross-functional teams
Required:
• Four or more years experience in user experience and web-based products required
• Additional experience in anthropology or ethnographic research a plus
• College or university degree required in HCI, Cognitive Psychology, Anthropology, Design, or related field (advanced degrees preferred)
• Ability to travel up to 20%
AutoTrader.com, created in 1997 and headquartered in Atlanta, GA, is the Internet's leading auto classifieds marketplace and consumer information website. AutoTrader.com delivers more than 3 million vehicle listings – updated daily - attracting more than 11 million unique visitors a month.

Ethnographer

Location: Toronto       Basis: Contract

Idea Couture is seeking an anthropologist or other social scientist to join our qualitative research team in Toronto on a contract basis with an option leading to a full-time position. The successful candidate will have a real passion for fieldwork, the ability to identify and clearly communicate customer insights to internal teams and clients, and the nimbleness required to juggle academic theory, various research methods, and creative design thinking with business needs.

RESPONSIBILITIES

·         Designing, conducting & reporting on qualitative field studies

·         Translating field insights into future products, services & experiences

·         Participating in & contributing to internal & client ideation sessions

·         Collaborating with designers, strategists, technologists & others

·         Traveling the globe on a frequent basis

REQUIRED SKILLS / EXPERIENCE

• Advanced social science degree
• Specialization in health, technology, social media or design
• Proven experience conducting ethnographic research projects
• A keen eye for observation
• Experience conducting 1-on-1 and group interviews
• Strong writing and editing skills
• Scholarly or other publishing record
• Strong understanding of and passion for 'digital culture'
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office
• Basic film editing software (ie. iMovie) skills an asset
• User-centered design & research experience an asset
• Previous applied/business experience an asset
• Second language an asset

COMPENSATION

Commensurate with experience

Senior Market Research Associate

The SMRA will design and manage agency and client research projects. Have knowledge of commonly used concepts as well as ability to keep abreast of new technologies and methodologies. Will gather and analyze primary and secondary data pertaining to current and potential clients and their business categories. Must be versed in qualitative and quantitative methodologies. It's pretty generic, but should help. I think one of the most important aspects is knowing the African American market (this person does not need to be African American - EOO).

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