GIM UPDATE 3 MARKET RESEARCH IN ASIA DO CULTURAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN 'EAST' AND 'WEST'MATTER IN MARKET RESEARCH? GIM I G ESELLSCHAFT F ÜR INNO VAT IVE MARKT F ORSCHUNG MBH I T REIT SCHKEST RASSE 4 -6 I 69115 HEIDELBERG T ELEFON + 49 6221 83 28-0 I T ELEFAX + 49 622 1 83 28 -33 I INFO@G-I-M. COM I WWW.G -I-M. CO M Conducting research in Asia has become a major issue for many of our clients. Therefore in this issue of our GIM Update we would like to share with you some of our Asian research experience and expertise. Market research in Asia Do cultural differences between 'East' and 'West' matter in market research? Westerners often wonder: 'What is typically Asian'? With a multitude of businesses and cultural experiences to be made in Asia it is hard to get an overview on aspects that 'typically' influence market research in Asia. A GIM paper presented at the ESOMAR Asia Pacific Conference in April 2009 in Beijing sheds light on this topic. It describes research experiences GIM made in various countries across Asia and integrates the results of a survey GIM conducted among its Asian partner institutes in China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia and the Philippines. The partners were asked about the cultural differences they perceive between 'East' and 'West'. The results were striking and highly relevant for everyone who conducts market research in Asia. Asian fieldwork takes its time The completion of Asian fieldwork may take longer than Western clients are used to. Running two groups on a normal day can prove to be challenging, if not impossible in some Asian countries. Longer duration of group discussions (due to a more extensive warm-up phase), respecting of prayer times (e.g. Malaysia, Indonesia) and long distances for respondents to commute from the city back home are some of the factors that prevent a 'tighter' time schedule. Similarly, more time needs to be allocated for in-home-interviews. Due to heavy traffic, partly insufficient infrastructure and other impeding factors (e.g. flooded streets during the rainy season), conducting more than two or three interviews per day may not be feasible. Different understanding of service culture Westerners are often pleasantly surprised by the kind of service they receive in Asian countries. However, the service provided is rather based on hospitality and a sense of hierarchy than understood as commission-based services and consultancy. This is not always recognized by Western clients, leading to the expectation of a high degree of individual initiative on behalf of the local partner - while the local staff is used to just fulfilling concrete requests. Different communication cultures Although open communication about challenges and problems is widely established in Asia, Asian research partners might still first try to deal with problems and questions without 'bothering' the client. Asian research partners want to be perceived as a good service provider, meaning that the client should experience a perfect project flow without any hassle for himself. This kind of Asian service culture may lead to silent adjustments of recruitment criteria or the adaptation of concept translations and so on. This all may be helpful to meet local specifics, however it can cause major problems if the researcher conducting a global research project is not informed about these changes. Dealing with mistakes may become another challenge as negative feedback is easily interpreted as a kind of personal failure. It is therefore essential for Westerners to provide feedback in a very constructive way that allows the Asian partner to 'save face'. SEIT E 2 | Concept tests - specific Asian processing and assessment of concept content In the area of classic concept tests it seems quite difficult for Asian respondents to discuss specific concept details independently from their assessment of the overall concept. This tendency is especially strong if a respondent's concept assessment is based on emotional concept elements. The emotional content simply overshadows the functional content in the perception of the Asian respondent. To counterbalance this tendency, it is helpful to test not only complete text concepts but also their single elements (insight, benefit, RTB and tagline). Translations of concepts into Asian languages Another very basic and often underestimated issue is the concept translation. Asian languages are highly contextual languages. Words can have multiple meanings and may sometimes only be understood in a context of sentences. In combination with a highly complex system of characters in countries like China or Japan this may lead to great challenges when translating concepts. In addition, the original concepts are often based on certain cultural assumptions or plays on words which take advantage of the language they are written in. When such concepts get translated into rather mediocre local versions, e.g. because the play on words does not work in the respective Asian language, they may end up testing poorly. This problem is further reinforced by the fact that translations are often left to the last minute and simply assigned to the research agencies rather than to professional bi-lingual translators. Apart from scheduling sufficient time for translations, it is thus recommendable to strive for several feedback loops in the translation of concepts. Consumer diaries - a rewarding but time-consuming methodology Creative consumer diaries to be completed at home are referred to as one of the most difficult parts of qualitative research by our interviewed Asian experts. Commonly, Asian consumers are not enthusiastic about filling in such diaries as they have no strong culture of writing for pleasure or keeping a diary. Respondents tend to dismiss the completion of a diary as a kind of game for children and thus not as something worth spending their time and effort on. Insufficient monetary incentives and the often complex and lengthy character of the diaries further aggravate this dilemma. Nonetheless, creative diaries can work very well in Asia and may lead to wonderful insights - that is if the local research agency is committed to accompanying and supervising the diary phase. Usually this involves intensive personal contact with the respondents and multiple visits to the respondents' homes - which implies additional work for the local research partner. In-home ethnography - easy in some Asian countries, more difficult in others In India, ethnography can be done quite easily because of the Indians' great hospitality and few personal boundaries and their ease at welcoming strangers at home. In contrast, in China and Malaysia respondents are rather hesitant to invite strangers to their homes. Here, social gatherings are commonly conducted in '3rd spaces' such as restaurants or bars rather than at home where living conditions can be quite cramped. Additionally, people may feel their home is not representative enough to welcome guests, especially if foreign clients are among them. In SEIT E 3 | China, respondents are furthermore particularly sensitive when it comes to showing personal rooms (e.g. bathroom and bedroom) and on top of that, having pictures or videos taken in their home. They require to be notified in advance of which places in the home shall be visited and photographed. High incentives need to be calculated for conducting in-home ethnography in these countries. In addition, reducing in-home visits to a minimum of (local) attendees is advisable to get a realist impression of the living environment. Online research: well developed only in few Asian countries It may come as a surprise to Western clients that the use of online methodologies can be difficult in Asia. Here, these normally time- and cost-efficient methodologies can actually turn into the opposite because Asian target groups often do not respond to them. One reason for this is the low spread of the internet in some countries. Though very high in Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Singapore, it is rather low in India, China and Southeast Asia, where it is furthermore unevenly distributed (high in urban areas, low in rural areas). The fact that the internet is very often accessed from cyber cafés has an additional deterring effect on consumers' ability and willingness to navigate online surveys. Country specifics: Japan as a special challenge Very striking were the particularities that market researchers - both of Western AND of Asian origin - experience when working with Japanese clients or research agencies. The conclusion is very clear and straight-forward: Japan is different from all the rest of Asia! (As well as from the West and the rest of the world for that matter) Only one of many striking examples is the Japanese clients' or Japanese research partners' wish for extremely detailed and wellstructured project set-ups from an early point in time. Any last-minute changes cause an uncomfortable sense of uncertainty on the Japanese side. Also, anybody who has completed a research in Japan knows how difficult it is to get at the heart of what Japanese respondents actually think and feel. Therefore, conducting research in Japan demands a high degree of openness and flexibility on behalf of Western clients and researchers - even more than in other Asian countries. The outcome will be an exciting and rewarding research experience! Want to know more about market research in Asia? If you are interested in further details, please check out our homepage at www.g-i-m.com or contact Patricia Blau (p.blau@g-i-m.com) or Susanne Wieners-Schlupkothen (s.wienersschlupkothen@g-i-m.com). SEIT E 4 |