First-World Culture Shifts and its Effects on Third-World Countries

It’s interesting, as a member of a first-world country, to hear the arguments and various viewpoints on entering the markets of developing countries.  On one hand, I live my life daily with ‘first-world problems’, like “oh my goodness, the button on my iPhone needs multiple presses to work” while my assignment readings address people who are just now receiving the benefits of a mobile device for pennies on the dollar.  It brings to mind a lecture I was fortunate enough to attend this week given by Jess Schell.  While his lecture was the implications of human psyche and extrinsic versus intrinsic motivation in game design, there was one idea he voiced that I found interesting.  In summary, he talked about how our culture (specifically the United States, but it is also applicable to other developed countries) are moving away from the industrial-era efficiency-driven business models towards the consumer trend of realism, reality, and quality of life.  This is an interesting juxtaposition to our businesses that are stepping into developing countries and redefining the “efficiency” model to help people who wouldn’t otherwise be able to help themselves.

I find this interesting because of two things: are we doing this because of our new focus on quality of life and realism, and what will the future look like if we progress at the rate we are going now?

The articles reiterate the message of “know your audience”.  Whether it’s socio-economic factors, cultures, political atmospheres, or religious beliefs, you need to know the real lives of your consumers regardless of whether you are selling a Bentley or a Tata.  In developed countries, we see a trend of desiring reality (like organic groceries or reality TV) and the rising need for businesses to be profitable, but also “be good stewards of the environment and society” (Alboher).  Fifty years ago, the United States was all about efficiency, even to the point of removing the human factor whatsoever.  People were more interested in making money over a long period of time and less about whether or not they actually liked the job.  This paradigm has shifted, and with it comes social responsibility.  We want to enjoy our lives, and a big piece of that has manifested in helping to better the lives of others.  The efficiency of our past comes together with this new perspective and has created the culture of social innovation – even if it still has a profit-driven structure.  One key idea I read was in the words of Danone manager Faber, that the company strives for “satisfactory and durable profits, but not to maximize profits.”  This never would have come to fruition fifty years ago, when efficiency was the main driver of motivation.

As for the future, I can only speculate with my small sample of experience.  It seems that the developed world’s shift to realism has identified developing countries as a ‘real’ and tangible presence to apply our refined efficiency and aligns with our goals of enjoying our own lives.  However, as other countries benefit from our efficiency, how much forward can we move?  What long-term impact will most of these products have for the people in the developing countries?  While I have only respect for companies and organizations who are contributing to solving the most pressing problems of the developing worlds – what are the long-term benefits or solutions?  Once a population has clean water and fair market prices because of text-message information, where do we go from there?  Is there a way we can help these communities become self-sufficient, to be able to address these problems themselves in the future?  Or, as we see in our current conflicts in the middle-east, is this something we should even have a hand in?  I have no argument against solving immediate, crucial needs, but how can we really improve their ‘quality of life’ for generations to come?

Clearly I have no answers to these questions, but this evolution of cultures and social ventures has seen an exponential acceleration of changing business models and practices, applicability of efficiency and technology, and the impact of developed on developing countries.  I hope to see it be sustainable and to be able to one day raise all people to the same or similar qualities of life, but only time will tell.