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Lund University
Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies
Masters Programme in Asian Studies
East and South-East Asian Track
Fall semester, 2005
MARKETING ACROSS CULTURES:
A case study of IKEA Shanghai
Author: Ying Pan (Penny)
Supervisor:Stefan Brehm
ii
Abstract
The past century saw rapid growth of multinational companies around the globe.
Along with the tide of globalization, these companies are compelled to deal with
customers cultivated in different cultures. China, boosting a remarkable economic
growth in the past two decades, stands out under the spotlight of international
business. Being amazed by the huge business potential posed by a population of 1.3
billion, many multinational companies have joined the competition to attract Chinese
customers. There have been losers and winners. IKEA is now on the right track.
IKEA entered the Chinese market in 1998 by first opening a shop in Shanghai,
the financial centre of the country and are now ready to expand further. The thesis
presents a case study of IKEA Shanghai’s marketing performances from a cultural
perspective, following the model of the marketing mix (the 4Ps). The findings convey
an important message in terms of international marketing—the company must think
globally and act locally in hope of building long-term customer relationships and
capturing customer value. In marketing decisions, culture does not hold an ultimate
status but still calls for due attention as much as other factors, such as the marketing
environment and the company’s strategic plan.
Key words: IKEA, marketing strategy, culture, cultural studies
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Contents
1. Introduction
1
1.1 Research question and aim of the research
1
1.2 Structure of the thesis
2
1.3 Previous research
3
2. Methods and Selection
3
3. Key Theoretical Concepts
5
3.1 Marketing and marketing process
6
3.1.1 Designing marketing strategy
7
3.1.2 Marketing mix (the 4Ps)
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3.2 Culture and cultural studies
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3.2.1 The concept of culture and Chinese culture
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3.2.2 Cultural studies
13
4. Marketing Across Cultures: IKEA Shanghai
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4.1 The IKEA saga
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4.2 Cross-cultural marketing: case study of IKEA Shanghai
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4.2.1 Product
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4.2.2 Price
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4.2.3 Place
25
4.2.4 Promotion
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5. Conclusion: The IKEA Saga Continues
29
Bibliography
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Appendix: Chinese Culture Values
34
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Foreword
Sincere acknowledgements to my teachers of the Masters Programme of East and
Southeast Asian Studies, Lund University, for their enlightening lectures and
supervision.
Heartfelt thanks to my classmates from Lund University and all my friends for their
support and help.
Last but not least, I would like to thank my family here in Sweden and back home in
China for their love and confidence in me.
I am sure there exist faults in this paper. All suggestions and discussions are warmly
welcomed.
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1. Introduction
China’s reform and opening-up policy since 1978 has brought profound changes of
the country’s economic landscape. Boasting an average Gross Domestic Product
(GDP) growth rate of 9.4% per year in the past 26 years, China’s annual per capital
GDP growth rate has still reached 8.1% even with a large population of 1.3 billion
(China Development Research Foundation and UNDP 2005). In addition, after 15
years of negotiations, China’s entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) was
officially approved on 11th November 2001. China has committed to further integrate
into the world’s multilateral trading system by opening up its wide market. Hence,
multinational corporations suddenly found themselves standing at the doorstep to a
new arena—the Chinese market. Due to globalization, some Western companies
tended to assume Asian consumers have similar tastes and preferences, but reality
might have shown a different picture. The world might have become a “global
village” but the impacts of various languages and cultures should always be taken into
consideration, especially when multinational companies design their marketing
strategies for different markets.
1.1 Research question and aim of the research
Usunier (2000) points out that in today’s increasingly interdependent world, barriers
to trade and international exchanges are constantly diminishing. However, the
dimension of culture remains the single most enduring feature that is necessary to be
integrated in marketing strategies and in their implementation, especially when they
focus on international markets. Inspired by the above notion, this thesis presents a
case study of IKEA Shanghai in China with reference to IKEA Malmö in Sweden,
examining how IKEA conducts its marketing strategies to appeal to customers
cultivated in a different culture from the country of its origin and how the company
combines its global marketing strategy with local culture-based marketing activities.
Originating from a small village in the south of Sweden in 1943, IKEA has
grown into the biggest furniture retailer with 253 stores in 37 countries and territories
around world. The company’s attempts in the Chinese market started from Shanghai
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in 1998, when its first store in Mainland China was opened. During the next 9 years,
IKEA took its time, getting to know the Chinese customers. A series of prudent
experiments have been proven effective. IKEA’s sales in China increased 500% from
2000 to 2005. At the same time, price has also been paid for a lesson on how to
balance global marketing strategies and local marketing activities. Ian Duffy, IKEA’s
CEO of Asia-Pacific region, admits in an interview that IKEA has made little profit
since entering the Chinese market (Song 2005 translated by the author). Therefore, for
multinational companies like IKEA, who want to proceed in different markets with
distinctive cultural characteristics, the research on IKEA Shanghai’s marketing
performance provides useful information on how to think globally and act locally.
1.2 Structure of the thesis
In order to demonstrate the central topic, how IKEA integrates its global marketing
strategies with its local marketing activities taking culture differences into
consideration when designing marketing strategies for the Chinese market, the thesis
proceeds as follows. Part 1, Introduction, raises the research question and proposes
the importance of the research to multinational companies as whole. It also introduces
the thesis structure and summarizes previous research on similar topics. The second
part discusses the research’s methodological points of departure—a case study. The
whole process involves the interaction of qualitative and quantitative approaches as
well as hermeneutics to interpret and analyze the collected data. Part 3 accounts for
the key theoretical concepts applied in the research. Theories concerning marketing
and marketing process are illustrated with IKEA’s global marketing concepts,
followed by the development of the culture concept and discussion of the Chinese
culture. The interdisciplinary feature of cultural studies enables the author to examine
marketing strategies from a cultural perspective, providing a theoretical support for
further arguments in the case of IKEA Shanghai. Part 4 begins with the story of the
IKEA saga as a cultural background introduction of the Swedish home-styling
company, especially its earlier experiences of struggling in the USA and Japan. It then
moves on to the case study of IKEA Shanghai. The model of the marketing mix, i.e.
the 4Ps—product, price, place and promotion, is followed to discuss the cultural
concerns shown in the company’s marketing activities. The research shows culture’s
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influences on the implementation of marketing strategies in China in the times of
globalization. Last but not least, the conclusion accounts for the whole research on
IKEA Shanghai’s marketing performances and culture’s impacts on international
marketing. Multinational companies should try to balance their global strategies and
local tactics in order to build long-term customer relationships and capture customer
value when dealing with customers cultivated in different cultures.
1.3 Previous research
IKEA has been deemed as a legend in the contemporary history of business.
Therefore, there has been a lot of research on IKEA from various perspectives. Some
of them show great interest in IKEA’s founder, Ingvar Kamprad, although half-retired
but still the soul leader of the corporation (Business Strategy Review 2004, Daniels
2004). Others recall the history of IKEA’s success, arguing IKEA’s unique business
idea and corporate culture lead the company through its ups and downs (Kippenberger
1997, Edvardsson and Edquist 2002, Barthelemy 2006). A few articles discuss
IKEA’s performances in a specific country but usually an established market like a
European country or the USA (The Economist 1994, Howell 2006, Marketing Week
2007). China is a relatively young market for IKEA but it is attracting more and more
attention from scholars and consumers alike (Moller 2006). There has been study on
IKEA China in general but not really focusing on culture’s influences on marketing
strategies (Miller 2004). Hence, hopefully, this thesis can initiate discussions on how
multinational companies like IKEA should deal with cultural variations when
designing marketing strategies for different markets. It starts with the author’s
methodological concerns and choices of theoretical concepts follow.
2. Methods and Selection
By definition, methodology means a set of methods and principles used to perform a
particular activity (Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary 2005). In social science,
methodology is deemed as a set of theories and tools adopted to approach the reality
in a scientific way. According to Yin (2003), the case study is one of the several ways
of doing social science research, which includes experiments, surveys, histories, and
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the analysis of archival information. Each of them has particular advantages and
disadvantages. The case study is the preferred strategy when a “how” or “why”
question is being asked about a contemporary sets of events, over which the
investigator has little or no control. The strength of the case study lies in its ability to
deal with a full variety of evidence—documents, artefacts, interviews, and
observations.
Hence, in order to solve the research question—how IKEA designs marketing
strategies for the Chinese market, integrating its global marketing strategies with
culturally-based marketing activities—conducting a case study is a sensible selection.
First of all, since IKEA’s establishment in 1943 at a small village in the south of
Sweden, the company has stood the test of time alongside the world’s economy’s ups
and downs in the past few decades and developed into the world’s No. 1 furniture
retailer; secondly, the author plays a role of an observer and analyst during the
research, who has no control or influence on designing IKEA’s marketing; last but not
least, data and facts can be collected from a wider range of sources, therefore, the
findings are more likely to avoid bias and approach reality. Based on the above
understandings, the author conducted a case study, focusing on IKEA Shanghai while
referring to IKEA Malmö in terms of the 4Ps model, tracing culture’s influences on
the company’s marketing decisions in China. Some first-hand information was gained
by the author’s own observations during the fieldwork in both shops. Other evidence
was collected from all kinds of publications, from academic writings to official
websites of IKEA.
The issue of qualitative versus quantitative methods has been a heated topic in
social science for a while. Attempts have been made to bridge the gap between the
two. Kvale (1996) believes qualitative and quantitative methods are tools, and their
utility depends on their power to bear upon the research questions asked. In the case
of this thesis, the whole research process involves the interaction of qualitative and
quantitative approaches. The research question is initiated by a qualitative analysis of
IKEA’s performances in China and the concepts of associating marketing with culture
studies. The following phase of data collection and analysis also sees qualitative and
quantitative methods intermingle. The final conclusion of the research is mainly
qualitative but it does not mean qualitative method is given priority in general. As
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tools, qualitative and quantitative approaches are selected for the purpose of
approaching the reality hidden underneath the research question.
According to Alvesson and Sköldberg (2000), hermeneutics has two main
approaches: objectivist and alethic hermeneutics. The former advocates the partwhole circle in the process of interpretation whilst the latter supports the
preunderstanding-understanding circle. The debate between the two schools has been
intense, however, the intensity also implies the two approaches are complementary
rather than mutually exclusive…Hermeneutics presupposes a general
preunderstanding as a basic, harmonious unity in the parts of the work, a unity which
expresses itself in every single part: the postulate of the absolute foundation in the
shape of uniform meaning. This hidden, basic precondition will then express itself in
the interpretation, and in our analysis we reach via a circular route that we had
presupposed…namely the harmonious, basic wholeness (ibid). Marketing theories
and cultural studies are both independent disciplines. However, when marketing
strategies are studied from a cultural perspective, the two disciplines are combined
into a bigger theoretical circle of understanding, i.e. how IKEA deals with cultural
differences in terms of marketing strategies. In this way, a general pre-understanding
of marketing and culture respectively develops into a further understanding of
culture’s influences on marketing in international business.
3. Key Theoretical Concepts
As its title indicates, this part of the thesis presents the key theoretical concepts to be
applied in the case study of IKEA Shanghai in Part 4, including theories concerning
marketing and concepts concerning culture. Marketing theories summarized in
Section 3.1 are based on Armstrong and Kotler’s (2006) understanding of marketing
and marketing process and illustrated with IKEA’s global marketing concepts. The
importance of designing a customer centered marketing strategy and the
implementation of such a strategy through the marketing mix (the 4Ps model) are also
discussed. The development of the culture concept and cultural studies depicted in
Section 3.2 explains the feasibility of associating marketing theories with cultural
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studies, which serves as the theoretical foundation for studying IKEA Shanghai’s
marketing performances through a cultural approach.
3.1 Marketing and marketing process
Marketing, among all business functions, is most down-to-earth in terms of dealing
with customers. As ordinary customers, every one of us already knows about
marketing. After all, it is all around us. Many people may be under the impression
that marketing is only selling and advertising, i.e. what we can see. However,
Armstrong and Kotler (2006) argue that selling and advertising is only the tip of the
marketing iceberg. There exists a massive network of people and activities, competing
for customers’ attention and purchases. In today’s marketplace, marketing must be
understood in the new sense of satisfying customer needs. They define marketing as
the process by which companies create value for customers and build strong customer
relationships in order to capture value from customers in return.
On the basis of the above definition, Armstrong and Kotler (ibid) move on to
describe the marketing process in detail and divide it into 5 steps. The first 4 steps
create value for customers and build customer relationships. At first, the company has
to understand the marketplace and customer needs and wants. Therefore, the company
needs to research its customers and the market place in order to collect and manage
marketing information and customer data. The second step, designing a customerdriven marketing strategy, takes place once the market place and customers are fully
understood. The company will select which customers to serve through market
segmentation and targeting. A value proposition will also be decided through
differentiation and positioning. After deciding on its overall marketing strategy, in the
third step, the company is ready to construct a marketing programme, which
transforms abstract strategies into real value for customers. The programme is also
known as the marketing mix which consists of 4 elements (the 4Ps)—product, price,
place and promotion. The fourth step, which is actually throughout the whole
marketing process, is to build profitable relationships and create customer delight. To
achieve the goal, the company must establish strong relationships with marketing
partners as well.
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The fifth step is when the company can finally reap the fruits of its strong
customer relationships by capturing value from customers in return. Once the
company has created satisfied and loyal customers, it can capture customer lifetime
value with a result of increased share of market and customer. However, in order to
succeed in today’s changing marketplace filled with competitors, the company also
has to take into consideration the new features of the marketing landscape: advanced
technology, globalization and social responsibility. International companies like
IKEA have to transform challenges posed by the new marketing environment into
opportunities, which echoes Armstrong and Kotler’s earlier argument—a good
marketing strategy is a must.
3.1.1 Designing a marketing strategy
As it mentioned previously in Section 3.1, marketing strategies should be made in the
second step of the marketing process based on a thorough understanding of the market
and customers. Only when this condition is fulfilled, one may expect a winning
marketing strategy from marketing management. According to Armstrong and Kotler
(ibid: 49), marketing strategy is the marketing logic by which the business unit hopes
to achieve its marketing objectives. Marketing strategies are decided by marketing
management (ibid: 9), which is the art and science of choosing target markets and
building profitable relationships with them. This kind of art and science follows
certain orientations, namely, the production, product, selling, marketing, and societal
marketing concepts. The evolvement of the above concepts can be traced in the
development of IKEA’s global marketing concepts.
IKEA’s business actually started from the production concept, which holds that
consumers will favour products that are available and highly affordable (ibid: 10). In
its earliest days, IKEA was selling products which Kamprad thought would be
popular and bought in bulk from Stockholm. The goods were delivered by the local
milk van to the train station and then the buyers. In this way, the products were easily
available to his customers and at low prices. Because of its competitors’ jealousy and
hostility, IKEA had to design its own products and search cheaper suppliers in
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Poland, when the product concept was proved worth trying. The product concept
holds that consumers will favour products that offer the most in quality, performance,
and innovative features (ibid). Nowadays, in order not to impress its customers as it is
sacrificing quality when charging low prices, the company has been working on
quality assurance even at low prices. The work remains one of the company’s focuses
in 2007 (IKEA Facts and Figures 2006).
The other by-product of being boycotted by its rivals and suppliers in Sweden
resulted in IKEA’s inability to follow the selling concept for long. Instead, it found
the marketing concept more useful. The selling concept contrasts with the marketing
concept that the former starts with the factory, the existing goods and focuses on
selling and promotion to make a profit; the latter starts with a well-researched market,
focuses on customer needs and gains profits by satisfying customer needs through
integrated marketing (Armstrong and Kotler 2006: 11). In recent years, the world sees
a rising trend calling for more ethics and social responsibility. Hence, the rise of the
societal marketing concept, i.e. a principle of enlightened marketing that holds that a
company should make good marketing decisions by considering consumers’ wants,
the company’s requirements, consumers’ long-run interests, and society’s long run
interests (ibid: 12). Companies, which ignore ethical issues and social responsibilities,
may not be well received in international business. IKEA has realized that and taken
actions. The company joined forces with The United Nations Children’s Fund
(UNICEF) to implement the UNICEF-IKEA Project to combat child labour and was
praised as an example of how the private sector can do business in developing
countries in a socially responsible manner (UNICEF 2005).
As one can see in the development of IKEA’s global marketing concepts,
marketing strategies must suit the marketing environment and most importantly
always centre on customers. Hence, customer-centred marketing strategy has been
chosen as the company’s overall strategic plan. Guided by the marketing strategy, the
company designs a marketing mix made up of factors under its control—product,
price, place and promotion (the 4Ps).
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3.1.2 The Marketing Mix (the 4Ps)
A marketing strategy remains only on paper without detailed planning of the
marketing mix. According to Armstrong and Kotler (2006), the marketing mix is one
of the major concepts in modern marketing. It is the set of controllable tactical
marketing tools—product, price, place, and promotion (the 4Ps)—that the firm blends
to produce the response it wants in the target market. One should notice that the 4Ps
model is a framework under which marketers can design marketing programs more
systematically. It does not overlook those marketing activities whose names do not
start with P. In stead, the non-Ps can usually be subsumed under one of the 4Ps. As
one can see in Figure 4.1 there are various marketing tools under each P.
Figure 3.1 The 4Ps of the marketing mix
Product
Variety
Quality
Design
Features
Brand name
Packaging
Services
Price
List price
Discounts
Allowances
Payment period
Credit terms
Target
Customers
Intended
Positioning
Promotion
Advertising
Personal selling
Sales promotion
Public relations
Place
Channels
Coverage
Assortments
Locations
Inventory
Transportation
Logistics
Source: Armstrong and Kotler (2006) Marketing: an introduction. New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.
The marketing mix starts with product strategy. Product covers more than the
physical goods the company wants to sell. It is the goods-and-service combination the
company offers to the target market (ibid). Thus, IKEA offers a whole range of
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products, almost everything you need for your home. The same category of products,
for example, sofas, IKEA designs models with different features. Some sofa models
are even provided with different covers to choose from. IKEA is positioned as selling
at affordable price and offering reasonable quality. In order to cut down the costs,
IKEA does not wrap its products fancily but with simple and environmental friendly
material. Here we see again the societal marketing concept takes into effect.
Concerning services, IKEA encourages its customers to do-it-yourself (DIY) but it
also provides technical help if needed.
Price is the amount of money charged for a product or service, or the sum of all
the values that customers give up in order to gain the benefits of having or using a
product or service (ibid). As shown in Figure 4.1, in terms of pricing, changing list
price is complemented by offering discounts or allowances and altering the payment
period or credit terms. Every now and then, IKEA reduces the price of certain
products because if they are popular among customers then IKEA can make a bigger
order, which leaves the profit margin wider so suppliers can quote lower offers. The
company also offers various payment options and credit terms to choose from for the
customers. Hence, IKEA handles pricing quite well that its pricing policy emphasizes
customer values and integrates with the other 3Ps.
Place includes company activities that make the products available to target
customers (ibid). Related activities are listed in Figure 4.1, such as channels,
coverage, assortments, locations, inventory, transportation and logistics. Over the
years, IKEA has established an efficient network of delivering its products from the
suppliers to its customers. Several logistics hubs around the world are now
transporting the products to different countries and territories. IKEA’s flatpacks play
an important role in transportation to keep the costs low. Locating the shops in the
suburbs of cities also helps to cut down the costs.
Like the marketing mix, promotion is a mix of tools as well. It is also called
marketing communication mix, consisting of the specific blend of advertising, sales
promotion, public relations, personal selling, and direct-marketing tools that the
company uses to persuasively communicate customer value and build customer
relationships (ibid). Ideally, the company integrates the above tools to communicate
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well with its customers. Apart from advertising on TV, newspaper and delivering
brochures with the latest offers to people’s home, IKEA pays a lot of attention to
environmental and ethical issues. IKEA’s cooperation with NGOs such as UNICEF
(www.unicef.org) and World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF) (www.wwf.org)
contributes a lot to building a favourable corporation image and good public relations.
In a word, an effective marketing programme blends all of the marketing mix
elements into a coordinated program designed to achieve the company’s marketing
objectives by delivering value to consumers (Armstrong and Kotler 2006: 53).
However, multinational companies, such as IKEA, operate in various markets facing
customers from different cultural backgrounds. Hence, to blend the 4Ps into a
coordinated programme in each of its world markets, companies must understand how
culture affects consumer reactions; understand local traditions, cultural preferences,
and behaviours.
3.2 Culture and cultural studies
The definition of culture is essential to cultural studies. Unfortunately, the concept of
culture has always been contestable. Williams (1976) states that culture is one of the
two or three most complicated words in the English language…because it has now
come to be used for important concepts in several distinct intellectual disciplines and
in several distinct systems of thought. Section 3.2.1 discusses the evolvement of the
culture concept and the Chinese culture referred to in the context of this paper. In
Section 3.2.2, cultural studies is defined, providing the grounds for further studying
marketing strategies from a cultural perspective.
3.2.1 The Concept of Culture and Chinese culture
Given the fact that culture has been proven to be difficult to define, it is necessary to
trace how the concept evolves over the time and the dimensions of culture expand
along with the development of human society. Smith (2001) traces the evolvement of
culture and argues it helps delimit the scope of the concept. At its early stage, culture
was referred to the ‘cultivation’ of animals and crops and with religious worship
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(hence the word “cult”). From the 16th century until the 19th people started associating
the term with the improvement of the individual human mind and personal manners
through learning as well as the improvement of society as a whole, sharing the same
meaning with “civilization”. However, with the rise of Romanticism in the Industrial
Revolution, culture began to be used to designate spiritual development alone and to
contrast this with material and infrastructural change. Romantic nationalism in the
late 19th century brought accented tradition and everyday life as dimensions of
culture. Expressions like “folk culture” and “national culture” emerged around this
time.
Williams (1976: 80) also analyzes these historical shifts and summarises them
into the following 3 current uses of the term “culture”, among which the third usage
gradually takes over and remains central to today’s cultural studies:
•
To refer to the intellectual, spiritual, and aesthetic development of an
individual, group, or society.
•
To capture a range of intellectual and artistic activities and their products
(film, art, theatre). In this usage culture is more or less synonymous with “the
Arts,” Hence we can speak of a “Minister of Culture.”
•
To designate the entire way of life, activities, beliefs, and customs of people,
group, or society.
Kroeber and Kluckhohn (1952) manage to gather over 160 definitions of culture.
Thus, it is important to understand culture correctly in different contexts. In the
context of this paper, Terpstra and David’s (1985) understanding of culture in
international business serves the best. They define culture as learned, shared,
compelling, interrelated set of symbols whose meaning provides a set of orientations
for members of a society. These orientations, taken together, provide solutions to
problems that all societies must solve if they are to remain viable. Fan (2000) takes a
step further on the basis of the previous findings when trying to classify Chinese
culture. He examines Chinese culture at the level of national culture, which is best
embodied in the values held by its people. A value system is seen as a relatively
permanent perceptual framework that influences an individual’s behaviour (England
1978). Fan (2000) proposes the Chinese cultural value system is so unique that it
distinguishes Chinese culture from Western cultures and the other Eastern cultures.
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The contemporary Chinese culture is composed of traditional culture, communist
ideology and most recently, western values, which can be classified into 8 categories
and 71 core values (ibid, see also appendix).
This thesis does not intend to go through all of the 3 elements of Chinese culture.
Instead, traditional culture’s influences shown in IKEA Shanghai’s marketing
performances are studied in detail. It is due to the fact that the traditional Chinese
culture has stood the test of time and remained fundamental in the interactions with
ordinary Chinese people. Croll (2006) recalls the search for “Chinese Identity” during
the reform and opening-up era in China and points out that the appropriation of
Western goods and practices was subject to a more discerning eye as many
increasingly looked to China’s own cultural roots. Chinese people believe the
uprooting of Confucian precepts was to be blamed for China’s current loss of
distinctiveness and continuity. Hence, the late 1990s saw a revival of China’s cultural
roots or Confucianism (ibid). It is also the period when IKEA Shanghai is involved.
The key to understand the traditional Chinese culture is Confucianism. Having
competed with the other schools of thought in history, such as Taoism, Buddhism,
etc., Confucianism is undisputedly the most influential thought, which forms the
foundation of the Chinese cultural tradition and still provides the basis for the norms
of Chinese interpersonal behaviour (Pye 1972). The basic teaching of Confucius, the
Five Constant Virtues: humanity, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and faithfulness
(Ch’en 1986), underlies the interactions among Chinese people in every aspect of
their life. Confucianism is considered as a repository of myths, symbols, heroes, art
forms, custom values, rites, artefacts, festivals and institutions which can act as
markers defining Chinese culture (Croll 2006).
3.2.2 Cultural studies
Cultural studies by definition is an interdisciplinary or post-disciplinary field of
inquiry which explores the production and distribution of cultural products and
practices. An engagement with the institutions, organizations and management of
cultural power (Parker 2000: 383). The past few decades has seen a global growth of
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cultural studies in the academic world. Ien (2005) believes the above phenomenon is
an indication of the increasing significance and contentious nature of the dimension of
“culture” in contemporary life and society, with the rise of globalization in particular.
On the basis of Williams’ (1976) summarization as well as Kroeber and
Kluckhohn’s (1952) collection of culture’s definitions, Smith (2001: 3) further
isolates the following core points of culture within the current field of cultural theory:
•
Culture tends to be opposed to the material, technological,