Consumer preferences in a comparative European market research study

Contents

  Erklärung  

  Ich versichere dass ich die vorliegende Diplomarbeit II selbständig  

  verfasst und keine anderen als die angegebenen Q uellen und  

  Hilfsmittel benutzt habe  

  Die Arbeit hat in gleicher oder ähnlicher Form noch keiner  

  Prüfungsbehörde vorgelegen  

  Kassel den 29 Januar  2002

  (Sarah Kniel)  

Contents

  Contents  

  CONTENTS  I

  List of figures  III

  List of tables  V

  PREFACE  VII

  INTRODUCTION  1

CHAPTER I   

  THEORETICAL BACKGROUN:D Determinants of consumer behaviour  5

1.1  An interdisciplinary approach to understanding consumer behaviour  6

1.2  Strategic options for market segmentation  8

1.3  Lifestyle approaches  11

1.4  International market research  18

1.5  The importance of the ecological factor and food habits  23

CHAPTER II   

  THE BOLLORÉ STUDY  29

2.1  Bolloré: the firm  30

2.2  The international market research project  32

2.3  Methodical procedure  33

2.4  Sampling procedure and data collection  34

2.5  Background data on those countries reanalysed for the Bolloré research  

  study  35

2.6  The market for plastic packaging  41

I

Contents

CHAPTER III   

  A THREE NATION COMPARATIVE RE-EVALUATION OF DATA  45

3.1  Consumer research theory  46

3.2  Research approach and research strategy  48

3.3  Data Analysis  50

3.4  Methodology  52

3.5  Evaluation procedure  53

CHAPTER IV   

  CONSUMER TYPES AND SPECIFIC ATTITUDES BEHAVIOUR  57

4.1  Building typologies  58

4.2  Typologies in relation to consumer behaviour  70

4.2.1  Distribution of consumer types in the three countries  70

4.2.2  Testing consumer groups in the context of further socio  

  demographic variables  75

4.2.3  Frequency behaviour of consumer types  80

4.2.4  Consumer types and choice of purchase location  85

4.2.5  Storage location and consumer types  89

4.3  Marketing aspects for Bolloré  93

4.3.1  Consumer types in relation to demands made on packaging  94

4.3.2  Specific criteria for packaging  100

4.4.  Conclusion  101

CHAPTER V   

  IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS  103

5.1  Implications for marketing  104

5.2  Recommendations for further market research studies  112

  COMMENT  117

  BIBLIOGRAPHY  i

  APPENDICES A  

II

List of figures

  List of figures  

  Fig 1: Diploma thesis procedure plan  4

  Fig 2: Consumer research in relation to different scientific fields  7

  Fig 3: General view of the strategic and international market selection  9

  Fig 4: Relationship between culture and economy  22

  Fig 5: Overview of the process of international market research  32

  Fig 6: Opinion of ideal task repartition in the family  39

  Fig 7: The plastic production between 1950 2000  41

  Fig 8: The world plastic production 2000  42

  Fig 9: The usage of plastic  43

  Fig 10: Types of data and levels of numerical measurement  50

  Fig 11: Strategic analysis of data  56

  Fig 12: France s repartition in the different cluster types  71

  Fig 13: Germany s repartition in the different cluster types  72

  Fig 14: The Netherlands s repartition in the different cluster types  72

  Fig 15: Order of testing hypotheses  74

  Fig 16: Homo oeconomicus repartition of household types  77

  Fig 17: Mr. Easy comfortable s repartition of household types  77

  Fig 18: Gourmand s repartition of household types  78

  Fig 19: Free choice buyer s repartition of household types  78

  Fig 20: Homo oeconomicus repartition of purchase locations  87

  Fig 21: Mr. Easy comfortable s repartition of purchase locations  87

  Fig 22: Gourmand s repartition of purchase locations  88

  Fig 23: Free choice buyer s repartition of purchase locations  88

  Fig 24: Storage preferences of consumer types  92

  Fig 25: Consumer groups in relation to the criteria cost efficient  96

  Fig 26: Consumer types in relation to the criteria protection  97

  Fig 27: Consumer groups in relation to the criteria touting  97

  Fig 28: Consumer types in relation to the criteria to bear information  98

III

List of figures

  Fig 29: Consumer types in relation to the criteria identifying information  98

  Fig 30: Consumer groups in relation to the criteria environmental friendly  99

  Fig 31: Consumer groups in relation to the criteria easy to open  99

  Fig 32: Marketing as marketing oriented decisions making  105

  Fig 33: International marketing: the five major decisions  106

  Fig 34: The international marketing environment and marketing mix  107

  Fig 35: Marketing possibilities  108

  Fig 36: Strategic options for marketing  109

IV

List of tables

  List of tables  

Table 1:  Overview of data obtained through qualitative analysis  35

Table 2:  Fruit and vegetable consumption in France Germany Netherlands  37

Table 3:  Household appliances in France Germany Netherlands  37

Table 4:  Demographic data  38

Table 5:  Population data  38

Table 6:  Plastic consumption of the European market in 1997  42

Table 7:  The 12 extracted factors from the factor analysis  61

Table 8:  Main components of clusters  65

Table 9:  Results of the discriminant analysis applied to the 4 clusters  67

Table 10:  Equality test for the average value of the groups  68

Table 11:  Cluster repartition according to the number of cases  69

Table 12:  Consumer type s repartition according to the number of cases in the  

  different nations:  70

Table 13:  Statistical overview of Kruskal Wallis H-test :  76

Table 14:  Consumer type s repartition according to the type of household  77

Table 15:  Repartition of consumer types according to the age group  79

Table 16:  Level of significance according to the frequency of consumption  81

Table 17:  Repartition of consumer groups according to the frequency of  

  consumption  82

Table 18:  Kruskal-Wallis test according to the frequency of purchase  83

Table 19:  Chi-square and asymptotic significance according to the frequency  

  of purchase  83

Table 20:  Repartition of consumer groups according to the frequency of  

  purchase  84

Table 21:  Consumer types in relation to the purchase location  86

Table 22:  Repartition of preservation location: freezer fruit  90

Table 23:  Repartition of preservation location: freezer vegetable  90

Table 24:  Repartition of preservation location: fridge fruit  91

V

List of tables

Table 25:  Repartition of preservation location: fridge vegetable  91

Table 26:  Repartition of preservation location: pantry dish fruit  92

Table 27:  Repartition of preservation location: pantry dish vegetable  92

Table 28:  Repartition of consumer groups according to demand on packaging96  

VI

Preface

_________________________________________________________________

PREFACE

_________________________________________________________________

Experiencing new and different cultures has been part of my life. The time abroad – more than a third of my life - has led to many interesting personal and professional experiences. This has helped me deal with new and unknown situations and respect tolerance as a most important value. Out of this interest I seek to understand and learn more about different cultures.

Eventually, one realises that differences in cultures might exist but are they really as significant as generally assumed? This question is of great importance for modern economy of these days. In view of the modern world as a global market, the question seems to be – can cultural aspects be ignored? To what extent can and do they influence our thoughts and habits? Bolloré’s market study in cooperation with 6 European universities provided an opportunity to analyse to what extent consumer behaviour is dependant on cultural aspects. Our comparison of European consumer preferences might help to give some attempt to whether we can assume that geographical boundaries are the only factors dividing nations within the European Union.

My research is guided by the very basic question: ‘Even though European countries are linked geographically and politically, and seem to be moving towards a more and more homogeneous union, to what extent can they be considered as one entity?’

Preface

_________________________________________________________________

In order to answer this question from an economic perspective I decided to reanalyse and compare interview data from the Bolloré study under the title: consumer preferences in a comparative European market research study.

As social psychology research has shown, attitudes expressed in interviews and behaviour do not always correspond with each other. As an active interviewer in the study I sometimes had the impression that consumers attempted to present themselves in a way that did not correspond to their actual buying behaviour.

But it is not as simple as it seems. Perhaps a thought of Somerset Maugham can be applied to the problem at hand:

‘There are times when I look over the various parts of my character with perplexity. I recognize that I am made up of several persons

will inevitably give place to another. But which is the real one?

Introduction

_________________________________________________________________

INTRODUCTION

_________________________________________________________________

During recent decades the world has gone through dramatic changes in history demanding continuous adaptation to a changing environment. The results are an economy driven and politically oriented world, always seeking improvement. Europeans travel to far continents, immigrants from othe r nations settle in Europe to work and raise a family, consumers buy products manufactured in other countries than their own, restaurants with food from other regions of the earth are commonplace etc. The markets and industries are exposed to increasing demands from consumers with more complicated needs to satisfy than ever despite the fact that fierce competition is greater than ever.

A modern trend seems to be that if firms want to stay competitive they need to globalise - sooner or later. Globalisation in terms of ‘providing the opportunity to capitalize upon consumer similarities worldwide’ (Keegan et. al.,1987). However becoming a global player is not a guarantee for success. Nevertheless many of those who are successful are operating on a worldwide basis, where the majority of turnover is from foreign locations. Strategically it offers more advantages and opportunities for any enterprise.

For many firms, developing a new product, the European market is the first step in internalisation. The French company Bolloré took first steps to find out if its new product, an innovative plastic packaging could be marketed across Europe. A special focus is on packaging unprocessed fruit and vegetables in their natural state.

Introduction

_________________________________________________________________

In cooperation with European universities a market research study was conducted in order to analyse consumer buying habits concerning fruit and vegetables as well as attitudes towards packaging in 5 countries of the European Union (France, Germany, Finland, Spain and the Netherlands).

The primary focus was the likelihood of acceptance or rejection of the product after its launching. A second question was, which markets to target. In what way do consumers among different countries differ so that only some will be worth accessing? The aim of this cooperative market research study was to better understand customers, to analyse the current market situation and competitive environment and if possible to deduce a potential marketing strategy.

Consumer behaviour is dependent on many more factors than once assumed. Empirical research has discovered the multiple factors that influence consumer behaviour and buying habits (Kroeber-Riel/Weinberg, 1999:8). Therefore, chapter one will introduce these factors and their impact for marketing decisions. In addition, the importance of the ecological aspect in the context of packaging will be analysed.

In chapter two, Bolloré the enterprise will be briefly described and their research goals. In addition the methodology and the scope of the international comparative study are explained and described.

A review of some basic data on the countries included in the Bolloré consumer research study will be given as well to provide some better understanding of the different context for the following comparison.

Chapter three describes my theoretical framework, the methodology and consumer research theory applied.

In chapter four, theory based hypotheses are examined in more detail using a life style approach as a tool for analysis. The last chapter (five), links these results to

Introduction

_________________________________________________________________

the marketing aspect and presents some recommendations for Bolloré’s marketing strategy as well as some general conclusions for further comparative market research studies.

Consumer behaviour has been studied in numerous empirical research studies over the past decades from many different point of views. The cultural aspect in marketing has become more important as some of the following titles which were published in the past few years demonstrate: Globalisation of Consumer marketing: Structures and Strategies (Hassan/Kaynak, 1994), Marketing in a multicultural world: ethnicity, nationalism and cultural identity (Costa/ Bamossy, 1995). Marketing across cultures (Usunier, 1996) or European perspectives on consumer behaviour (Lambkin/ Foxall/ Van Raaij/ Heilbrunn, 1998).

Our comparison included only European countries, and we may ask if consumer behaviour is in fact country and culture specific or rather more dependant on other factors such as the social and psychological environment and therefore independent of nationality. Could this mean that a certain type of customer exists across some European countries independent of respective cultural factors? Depending on these variables are some countries just better markets to target than others?

In order to answer this research question, I re-analysed the national data collected for France, Germany and the Netherlands in an European comparative analysis. The study aims to establish a consumer typology with reference to preferences for buying and storing fruit and vegetables, attitudes towards packaging and social background variables. The outcome should not only be of importance for the case study but help to improve our understanding for developing a European strategy.

My diploma thesis will proceed according to the following work plan.

Introduction

_________________________________________________________________

Fig. 1: Diploma thesis work plan

Chapter I-

_______________________________________________________________________________________

CHAPTER I

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND:

DETERMINANTS OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

_________________________________________________________________

This chapter will describe several theoretical approaches l eading to the main explanatory theory applied in data analysis - lifestyle typologies. It will provide a deeper understanding of the theoretical background needed for this study.

Chapter I-

_______________________________________________________________________________________

1.1 An interdisciplinary approach to understanding consumer behaviour

Consumer behaviour has been a research focus for many years. Sociologists, psychologists, anthropologists and other social scientists have engaged in studies attempting to deliver an appropriate explanation (Kroeber-Riel/Weinberg, 1999:14). However no one single field of the social sciences was able to offer satisfactory results, without being criticized by other approaches. It became obvious that consumer behaviour is a far more complex object of study than it was first thought.

Consumer research is an applied behavioural science attempting to explain the behaviour of consumers by analysing patterns of behaviour. This implies that all scientific theories must be taken into consideration which are somehow related to human behaviour. Valid results can only be obtained by theoretical analysis verified by empirical data collection, either by own research or in reanalysing previous studies. The following scientific disciplines have made their specific contributions:

• Sociology,

• Psychology,

• Social psychology,

• Ethology;

• Physiology:

The more complex a study is (in this case consumer behaviour), the more disciplines will be related to its explanation. It becomes impossible to strictly separate the different sciences and to associate a theoretical construct to a single one. However the specific contribution of each scientific discipline depends on the research focus. Therefore, consumer research is characterised by its interdisciplinary approach (refer to Sherry 1990 in Kroeber-Riel/Weinberg, 1999:14).

For a better understanding the following graphic will illustrate the relationship of social sciences and consumer behaviour.

Chapter I-

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Fig. 2: Consumer research in relation to different scientific fields (own table)

These separate approaches will not be described in detail, as the focus of this thesis is on the lifestyle concept, which is based on a mixture of social science approaches. Krober-Riel (1980) underscores the importance of an interdisciplinary approach. According to the author:

“Interdisziplinär arbeiten heißt problemorientiert arbeiten:

Es kommt darauf an, Probleme mit geeignetem Forschungsansätzen und

Different academic disciplines contributed to the lifestyle concept (Banning, 1987:32). The study of motivation and personality had its origin in psychology, variables such as influence of social class and reference groups were taken from sociology, as well as aspects of biological bases of behaviour and concepts from cultural anthropology as a theoretical foundation of marketing concepts.

To summarise, consumer research can be defined according to Kaynak (1978):

“…Konsumentenforschung stellt die Anwendung wissenschaftlicher Methoden zur Lösung von Marketingproblemen dar, um Unsicherheit zu reduzieren und die Qualität unternehmerischen Entscheidungen zu verbessern, die sich

Chapter I-

_______________________________________________________________________________________

gleichermaßen auf die Unternehmensziele und Bedürfnisbefriedigung der Verbraucher beziehen.”

Empirical research is necessary to explore markets and subdivide them into significant sectors with distinct characteristics. To explain consumer behaviour and markets one has to draw on these theories for segmentation. Market segmentation is indeed essential for marketing purposes. Different functions of market segmentation will be described in the following section.

1.2 Strategic options for market segmentation

Until the middle of the 20 ^th century the marketing concept was production oriented before shifting its focus to customer orientation (Michman, 1991:4). The importance of integrating human activities and behaviour into the study of marketing problems and concepts can be shown on the basis of Kotler’s (1988) definition:

“it is a market-focused, customer-oriented, coordinated marketing effort

With the growing understanding that it was necessary to focus more on the customers it became evident that customer behaviour followed distinct patterns and markets needed to be segmented. According to Wich (1989):

„Grenzüberschreitende Lebensstilanalysen und psychographische Segmentierungsverfahren können zur Identifikation entweder nationaltypischer Kundengruppen oder länderübergreifender homogener

Chapter I-

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Market segmentation plays a vital role in national and international marketing and market research. Hardly any company focuses only on one country. Regional differences beyond national boundaries are sometimes so significant that it is more adequate to conceptualise marketing operations in terms of regions. Market selection (of countries) and segmentation are two interdependent processes that reflect the coherence of the strategic business plan and the company’s operational units (Meffert and Bolz, 1998:108). The following table illustrates this interdependence.

Fig. 3: General view of the strategic and international market selection (Meffert and Bolz, 1998:109)

Market segmentation can be achieved according to diverse characteristics ranging from geographic variables to psychographics. These approaches will be described briefly, following Michman’s classification (1991) and by adding Weintsein’s dimensions.

• Geographic Segmentation Markets are segmented by regions, countries, cities, counties or any other geographical entity. Additional variables such as climate, or population density are used as well.

• Demographic segmentation This is/was the most popular method to break down markets into sectors. Variables such as income, age, sex, family size, life cycle, income, occupation, education, religion, and race are most easy to find, measure and apply to marketing purposes.

Chapter I-

_______________________________________________________________________________________

• Behavioural segmentation/Product usage In this case consumers were segmented by their purchasing behaviour: whether they are light-users or heavy-user, their usage and product loyalty status, and their state of purchase etc. just to mention a few.

• Benefits How does a firm evaluate the benefits for the firm and the consumer according to price, service, special features, and/or the reputation of the seller?

• Segmentation by psychographics This segmentation method uses psychological variables to differentiate between consumer behaviour patterns. In particular attitudes, interests, activities, values and personal traits are measured to help explain and predict consumer behaviour. Psychographics are sometimes synonymously referred to as lifestyle. Nonetheless, there exist at least 24 different definitions on average in the economic literature (Wells in Hartmann, 1999:49).

Nevertheless, nearly all of theses approaches failed to offer sufficient exp lanations for marketing decision, always considering only some and leaving out other dimensions. An exception is: psychographics. This approach includes all influencing variables, individual ones such as the psychological variables for example attitudes, as well as the external influences. Emanuel Demby (1974) underscores their importance:

‘generally, psychographics may be viewed as the practical application of the behavioural and social sciences to marketing research;

more specifically, psychographics is a quantitative research procedure that is indicated when demographic, socio-economic and user/non-user analyses are not sufficient to explain and predict consumer behaviour.’

Chapter I-

_______________________________________________________________________________________

The usage of psychographics to establish lifestyle concepts offered new possibilities and many advantages which were seized by market research institutions and scientists (Banning, 1987:40). It was now possible to gain a large quantitative data sample in order to deduct consumer attitudes and interests. The result was a series of new concepts at first developed and applied in the United States before they reached Europe.

Market segmentation is a strategic tool that can be used on a national or international basis. The purpose is the same which will become comprehensible through Hassan’s (1994) definition of global market segmentation:

‘…is the process of identifying specific segments, whether they be country groups or individual consumer groups, of potential consumers with homogeneous attributes who are likely to exhibit similar buying behaviour.’ (Hassan, 1994:53)

The author prefers his definition of global market segmentation in contrast to world market segmentations that are based on geographical variables (country segments). The latter are limited by three critical facts:

1. They are based on country variables not on consumer behavioural patterns

2. They assume total homogeneity of the country segment

3. They overlook the existence of homogeneous consumer segments that exits across national boundaries.

Exactly this weakness is counterbalanced by the lifestyle approaches, segmenting consumers according to their specific behaviour and more in general by their lifestyle. Lifestyle approaches will be described in the following part.

1.3 Lifestyle approache s

First of all an appropriate definition of lifestyle is needed. The very first usage of this term dates back to the 16 ^th century by Adler (Kramer, 1991:33). The

Chapter I-

_______________________________________________________________________________________

evolution of this term in history is not relevant to this thesis and therefore will not elaborate on it. The focus is on the term ‘lifestyle’ in relation to the marketing concept, where this term was first used by Veblen and Weber at the beginning of the 20 ^th century, pointing out that social situations change along the timescale as well as the expression of human needs and thoughts (Kramer, 1991:33).

Various definitions with different characteristics and focuses are used by numerous authors from different scientific fields. Bordieu underlines the relation between culture and social inequality (Bordieu in Driesberg, 1995:8), Endruweit describes groups, milieus and social stratums (Endruweit, 2000:7), Cathelat focuses on socio-styles as a classification system (Cathelat, 1990:24) just to mention a few different point of views.

To summarize, lifestyle defines the whole process of how humans live, think and behave. The most adequate definition of lifestyle for the scope of this thesis is by Engel and Blackwell, where:

‘lifestyle is a summary construct defined as patterns in which people live and

This definition captures all important features, starting by the process of thinking and anticipating consequences, moving on to actions of behaviour - be they conscious or unconscious. It is always problematic to rely on one existing definition, as they might not capture every important point. It is difficult to differentiate between needed and neglected terms for this definition as there is no guideline for what is or contributes towards a lifestyle. Therefore, this definition was used as a basic explanation for understanding this term.

The lifestyle concept was first linked to the marketing concept by William Lazer at the American Marketing Association conference in 1963 (Lazer in Hartmann, 1999:50; Banning, 1987:29). This was the beginning of a newly developing marketing perspective as the life-style concept was one of the first successful

Chapter I-

_______________________________________________________________________________________

attempts to consider behavioural aspects in quantitative market research (Banning, 1987:37).

Different lifestyle research concepts will be briefly presented in the following section. A detailed description is not given as the Bolloré study is not explicitly based on one of these theoretical approaches. Nevertheless a brief summary does provide some useful information for further understanding of the background applied in this study (for a detailed review see Kramer, 1991).

1. The AIO approach This approach is based on consumer activities & attitudes by Tigert and Wells (1971). The first quantitative research instrument was established in cooperation with the Leo Burnett marketing institute, Chicago focusing on: Activities, Interests and Opinions + basic characteristics (Kramer, 1991:159; Driesberg, 1995:146; Banning, 1987:41).

This concept included socio-demographic data as well as items on consumer activities (for example leisure time activities), interest and opinion. The first AIO survey was conducted in the United States with a sample of 1000 people (representative for the whole US population), using a 25 page long questionnaire linked to 300 AIO items (Driesberg, 1995:146).

In 1973 an AIO survey was carried out for the first time outside of the US in 14 countries. In Europe the following nations participated: Denmark, Germany, France, Finland, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom (Linton, 1975 in Kramer, 1991:160).

2. The ACE approach The Swiss marketing Research Institute on Social Chance (RISC) has established a system to monitor value changes in Europe: the ACE monitor, standing for Anticipating Change in Europe.

Chapter I-

_______________________________________________________________________________________

The concept and method is based on the US System, named ‘Yankelovich-Monitor’. The participating 12 European countries conduct their survey individually but evaluate the results on an international and comparative basis. In a panel design data is c ollected annually with a revision of the current questionnaire due to the rapid changes of values. Values are measured through Likert type scales and lead to ‘Eurotypes’ such as ‘Traditionalists’, ‘Rationalists’ or ‘Trendsetters’ in combination with social-demographic data (see Kramer, 1991:175-180).

3. The VALS approach This approach describes the interdependence between VAlues and LifeStyle. It is theoretically based on Maslow’s (1954) pyramid of needs and Riesman’s (1958) social types of characters (Driesberg, 1995:162). It was developed by the Stanford Research Institute (SRI) in 1978 and at first only applied in the United States.

The British marketing institute Young & Rubicam used the VALS theory to develop an own concept for Europe: the ‘ Cross Cultural Consumer Characteristics (4C’s)’. The focus is also on values. Mitchell (the inventor of VALS in cooperation with his team) explains the focal point as follows:

‘By the term ‘values’ we mean the entire constellation of a person’s attitudes, beliefs, opinions, hopes, fears, prejudices, needs, desires, and aspirations that, taken together, covers how one behaves.

One’s interior set of values – numerous, complex, overlapping, and contradictory though they are – finds holistic expression in a lifestyle.’

Lifestyles is defined ‘by its distinctive array of values, drivers, beliefs, needs,

VALS typology differentiates between four groups of individuals: need driven persons, outer-directed persons, inner-directed persons and integrated persons,

Chapter I-

_______________________________________________________________________________________

which are then grouped in different segments. For example need- driven persons, i.e. individuals that live close to the basics minimum and seek to satisfy their elementary economic needs can be grouped into two life styles: survivors or sustainers.

The idea is to generate a typology, which segments the European consumers according to their values and lifestyles.

4. Socio-Styles & Euro-Styles The socio-styles system was developed by Bernard Cathela t and the Centre Communication Avancé (CCA) in 1970. Their research is conducted in cooperation with 15 European research institutes. The aim is to bring the research methods in line in order to achieve more valid, reliable and comparable data. Since 1989 this system is referred to as ‘Eurostyles’ (Kramer, 1991:203). The scope on an European basis is relatively large, as the survey is conducted in two questioning phases. The first one has about 4000 questionnaires whereas the second one uses five times as m any. A sample of 48 500 households in the European Union and 57 000 households in Europe leads to very reliable and detailed results.

The major cooperation partner is the GfK, (Gesellschaft für Konsumforschung-in Germany whereas the company’s label worldwide is ‘growth from knowledge’) represented in nearly all European countries. This market research agency has establishes a Euro-style catalogue, categorising European consumers in 16 Euro types such as ‘Euro Dandy’, ‘Euro Moralists’ etc. (Kramer, 1991:220).

5. Dialoge2 This approach is based on the ‘Dialog’ study of the German publishing house Gruner & Jahr - 1981. The focus was to analyse societal trends and demonstrate their relevance for marketing (Driesberg, 1995:176). Further development of this

Chapter I-

_______________________________________________________________________________________

concept including lifestyle features were published in Dialoge2 – ‘Der Bürger im Spannungsfeld von Öffentlichkeit und Privatleben.’

The population sample consisted of 6.112 persons that were interviewed with a standardised questionnaire of approximately 80 minutes. (Driesberg, 1995:178). This approach does not attempt to distinguish consumer types but groups individuals along 10 elements such as environmental conscious behaviour, personal values etc. which again are divided in 3 to 7 segments. This leads to groups such as ‘active citizens’ (active Öffentlichkeit) which consider themselves well informed and believe that they themselves can contribute to the solution of political problems. These persons generally have a higher level of education, earn a higher salary and read journals with high information content.

6. Burda lifestyle research The German publishing house Burda- Verlag carried out a lifestyle research study of men and women in 1983. The idea is that societal values and individual life orientations change over the years. The survey consisted of a sample of about 1500 men and 3000 women, and identified between 8-9 different lifestyle types using cluster analysis (Driesberg, 1995:202). On the basis of 5 point scales of desires, attitudes and habits life styles of men are classified as ‘traditional heads of family’ or ‘dissatisfied’ and women as ‘health conscious’ or ‘pessimistic’ etc.

7. The SINUS approach The German institute tried to find a better method to segment markets. Its theory is based on Edmund Husserl’s ‘everyday concept’ (Becker and Nowak, 1993 in Driesberg, 1995:192). The only possible way to describe and understand consumers totally is, when the perception of their daily life is seen. SINUS uses qualitative methods and open interviews in order to classify distinctive ‘environments’ (Milieu) as well as 41 standardized statements called Milieu – Indicator. As a result nine different groups are distinguished such as ‘traditional blue collar’, ‘upwardly mobile’ etc.

Chapter I-

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Specific conclusion

This review has shown that market research is a complex and difficult endeavour. The various approaches presented all tried to explain consumer behaviour in measuring certain variables and grouping persons as to certain life style types. A critical review of these different approaches is beyond the scope of this thesis especially since the data gathered in the Bolloré study are not explicitly based on these models. Even though these approaches seem quite different there are some similarities.

§ Classification is based on scales measuring attitudes, needs and behaviour

§ Socio-demographic data is also used as a basis for building typologies

§ Multivariate statistical/mathematical methods such a factor analysis and cluster analysis are used for grouping persons from the sample

Even if the initial theoretical foundation of these studies are not identical the result is a classification of lifestyles. Obviously in a changing world a permanent, unchanging system of lifestyle classification is not probable and in my opinion cannot exist.

To summarise lifestyle analysis can be used for marketing purposes, in taking many if not all elements of the social sciences into consideration, with the focus on explaining consumer behaviour by segmenting consumer groups and constructing typologies. According to Banning (1987) lifestyle analysis presents itself as most suitable solution in international marketing and market research (Banning, 1987:57). The mayor problem lies in the inconsistence of consumer behaviour that changes frequently. It is difficult to link behaviour to attitudes or values, as these are also constantly changing, influenced by a situational dependent varying environment. The consumer today is exposed to an information overload from the media and his direct environment. This is why repeated (panel) studies are necessary in order to detect trends in behaviour and attitude changes of consumers.

Chapter I-

_______________________________________________________________________________________

1.4 International market research In general, international market research does not differ notably from national research - the functions are the same. This becomes clear by the definition of marketing research, given by the American Marketing Association, Chicago (Weinstein, 1994:47).

‘Marketing research is the function which links the consumer, customer and public to the marketer through information - information used to identify and define marketing opportunities and problems; generate, refine, and evaluate marketing actions; monitor marketing performance; and improve the understanding of marketing as a process.’

The scope of a market analysis becomes larger and the results are more significant as the base of comparison grows wider. Still the process remains the same, only the scope of sampling extends to more than one country. And exactly this difference creates the largest proble ms in the explanatory part of the research. The idea is to find some significant outcomes that are useful for the strategic future of companies. To adapt to locale differences, if there are some, to modify the marketing mix whenever necessary and to be well aware of national differences that could be fatal if neglected. But as Linton comments, the problem is: from which moment on is a description or perception defined as cultural dependent? (Linton, 1974 in Schuster, 1992:16).

Consumer behaviour can be studied from two different approaches. Either from the ‘etic’ or from the ‘emic’ point of view. The etic approach departs from a more global perspective using universal models which are seen as applicable and transferable into all countries or cultures. In contrast to this first assumption, the emic approach, is culture specific, postulating a relation between variables that are specific to separate cultures. It analyses from the subject’s point of view (refer to Hofstede (1980) and Holzmüller (1989) for more information).

Chapter I-

_______________________________________________________________________________________

According to Wich’s critic on the emic approach, the focus on specific national and cultural bound differences make a common base of comparison impossible (Wich in Schuster, 1992:18).

A new possible theoretical approach could be ‘ethnoconsumerism’ represented by Alladi Venkatesh (1995). According to this researcher, ethnoconsumerism is:

‘…the study of consumption from the point of view of the social group or cultural group that is the subject of study. It examines behaviour on the basis of the

This approach differs significantly from existing cross cultural studies. Although it can be linked to the emic approach, the author stresses that it is not the same. It is not a method itself, but research begins with the basic cultural categories of a given culture and their interactions (Ventakesh,1995 in Costa/Bamossy, 1995:27).

This approach is a sum of studies at different layers (Ventakesh, 1995 in Costa/Bamossy, 1995:44):

• The study of the cultural (symbols, belief system, norms)

• The study of the social (social organisations and institutions)

• The study of the individual (personality, behaviour)

To summarise, the ‘ethnoconsumerist’ approach is a multifaceted one that studies the individual not as an individual, but as a cultural being.

The problems of cross cultural studies or international market research are not only based on finding an adequate theoretical approach but also the time and the money available for extended research and validity of the obtained results. The development of cross cultural marketing studies is hampered by competitive and economic restrictions. If research is conducted for a business firm, the results are seldom published or accessible to the public. This impedes the free and continual

Chapter I-

_______________________________________________________________________________________

development of scientific market research. For example, it was impossible to read the results of comparative market studies by the GfK which could have been relevant to my thesis due to the prohibitive costs of these publications.

Europe as a research field is quite interesting because of common history and at the same time its separate developments. Europe has had challenging changes before evolving to one entity from 1957 on. Although European powers strive to achieve homogenisation on many sectors, only few have been successful. Especially in terms of economical and political goals they seem to have reached their goals. Europe has been characterised by its idea to become a world power, a mayor player of the triad or negatively labelled a ‘fortress’.

Europe’s historical development has enabled researchers to compare countries and cultures more easily on an European base, offering a rich source of comparison. When legal frames are similar or even identical, t he differences within the countries become more obvious and valid. But from which point on do differences become evident?

When the research focus is on consumer behaviour, the influences of culture must be taken into consideration. This means that the consumer is influenced by the culture in which he is living. Does this imply that culture shapes the consumer preferences?

Consumers influence the people with which they are in social interactions and their environment by their individual actions and reactions. Does this mean that the consumer influences his culture? From my point of view reality is a mixture of both types of interactions, each reacting to the previous actions of the other, consumers shaping and being shaped by their environment.

The world changes at a tremendous speed. Firms are able to offer their products nation wide and even on a global scale. Consumer needs and tastes seem to become more and more similar, and as American baseball caps, pop music and Coca Cola seem to be in universal demand from Afghanistan to Zaire a new type