Product – understand-culture

Pareto

The Pareto principle: Also known as the 80-20 rule, stating that in many situations approximately 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.

Vilfredo Pareto, an Italian economist, documented in the early 1900s that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population. Pareto went on to observe that 20% of the pea pods in his garden contained 80% of the peas. It has become a common rule of thumb in business that 80% of sales come from 20% of clients.

The 80-20 rule could be a metaphor about the American approach to many things, or at least about an element or aspect of the Americans approach. Americans tend not to be perfectionists. Not because they do not recognize and honor striving for the best. But because in many cases attaining, reaching, accomplishing that extra 5% is in many cases “simply not worth it”.

Worth. Value. Does the customer want that extra degree of engineering excellence? Is it necessary to calculate that many digits behind the decimal point? Is that depth of analysis necessary in order to make a decision?

80% is often enough. For Americans, depending on the situation, 60% is enough. Depending on the risk-benefit relationship, even less is enough.

Products thinking with

Mitdenken – thinking with – meaning thoughtful, deliberate, reasoned action taking into consideration possible advantages and disadvantages, is clearly a German character trait. It should not be a surprise that there are How-to books advising managers on how to think with.

Along with people in Germany who think with there are also products in Germany which think with, developed to make life easier, safer and more comfortable.

They are often referred to in English as smart. Smart packaging which inform consumers about the product. Smart materials in eyeglasse which dim when sunlight is too bright. Smart wind turbines which turn automatically to the wind in order optimize electricity gain.

Smart automobiles whose steering wheel notices if the driver is falling asleep and sets off an alarm. Such cars also have smart headlights which adjust to oncoming traffic and read speed limit signs and inform the driver.

Tools serve

Tool: A handheld device that aids in accomplishing a task; something such as an instrument or apparatus used in performing an operation or necessary in the practice of a vocation or profession; an element of a computer program that activates and controls a particular function; a means to an end; one that is used or manipulated by another.

Americans use the term tool in many different situations. A tool is practical, pragmatic, singular, specialized. They are always at hand, simple, easy to use, precise. A tool does exactly what the user wants it to. They are not only physical and mechanical, like a hammer, screwdriver, a wrench. Tools can assist with sophisticated tasks, including those purely mental, such as software, financial analytical tools. Intelligent tools are only as intelligent as the people who created and those using them.

Programmable appliances: Appliances like microwaves and coffee makers are becoming increasingly sophisticated, with added features such as programmable start/stop functions and alarms. Modern appliances are much easier to use and program than previous generations. They are frequently redesigned to be more user friendly. This is a response to consumers’ demands for products which do much of the thinking for them.

Easy to use: Intelligent products can be used by not so intelligent people. Most modern products – including household appliances, automobiles, computers & software, tablets, smartphones, electronics in general – employ large, simple displays with large buttons and easy to follow protocols. They are designed to be simple and to avoid overwhelming users with low-value, distracting features. Although more advanced features are often possible, they do not crowd out the simplicity of the product. All possible measures are taken to make the product as easy to use as possible.

It is up to the customer to decide the level of sophistication they seek in a product. The most basic models are always available for beginners, while many companies offer far more advanced models of appliances or electronics for more knowledgeable users. For example, there are various levels of stereos and TVs for consumers who want different features and levels of sophistication.

iPhone OS as a tool: One example of a simplistic, intelligent tool is the operating system of Apple products like the iPhone and iPod. Apple favors an elegant, easy to use design over more complex designs. Most people can quickly figure out how to use an Apple product by simply using their fingers and following on-screen prompts. Options are limited and presented in a layered, decision tree fashion. Many other electronic and appliance products have begun to employ similarly simplistic and user friendly designs.

Food and obesity

Despite the fact that over 30% of Americans are considered obese, they continue to expect and consume very large portions of food. This is part of a culture that glorifies and celebrates things that are large. Large homes, large cars, and large food portions are made possible by America’s abundant wealth and natural resources and celebrated as a key aspect of American culture. Bigger is better.

McDonald’s revolutionized the restaurant sector by applying an assembly line model to their hamburger restaurant. This process produces food of predictable quality in an efficient manner. In order to be profitable, non-fast food chains like the Cheesecake Factory must quickly produce food products of predictable quality without wasting ingredients or resources such as water and electricity. These restaurants have set up processes that rely upon training low-skilled workers how to create high-quality products by following strict processes.

„Bigger is better“: Many travelers have noted that American food portion sizes are much larger than portions in other countries in Europe and Asia. A medium sized drink or meal in America is the equivalent of a large in many Asian or European countries. Mainstream America tends to value size and price over the quality of a food product. Most fast food chains give customers the option of super-sizing a meal for a small fee ($0.50 – $1.00). Super-sizing increases the apparent value of the meal because it increases the size (and calorie count) for a small sum of money.

Some corners of American society have begun to strive for healthier, more sustainable portion sizes. One notable example is the controversial decision by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to limit soft drink sizes. The law bans the sale of sugary drinks larger than 16 ounces and is aimed at curbing obesity and unhealthy habits that ultimately increase medical costs and decrease worker productivity.

Another initiative aimed at encouraging Americans to make better eating choices is the federal law that forces food chains with more than a certain number of store locations to post calorie information on the menu. This law was part of the Affordable Care Act, also known as „Obamacare.“

Houses people love to hate

According to the U.S. Census Bureau „The average new American home last year was 2,480 square feet, an increase of 88 square feet from 2010.“ These excessively large single-family homes are often referred to as „McMansions“ due to their relatively low cost and massive size.

By comparison, this is more than double the average home size in France and Denmark. The average size of a house in the United Kingdom was 818 square feet in 2009. Large homes consume large amounts of electricity, water, and other resources.

Americans tend to fill these large homes with numerous large things such as high capacity washing machines, clothes dryers, and kitchen appliances. Americans tend to keep the temperature of their home around 70 degrees Fahrenheit regardless of the temperature outside or amount of energy required to do so. Although some utility companies are encouraging Americans to use more efficient lighting, inefficient lighting and appliances remain the norm in most of the country.

American homes tend to be found on large plots of land, especially in affluent suburban areas. These lots are usually landscaped and planted with decorative plants and grasses that must be mowed, watered, and maintained. Mowing large lawns requires large tractors that, in turn, consume large amounts of gasoline. Watering lawns is a very inefficient process during hot summer months when much of the water evaporates before it has a chance to absorb into the soil.

Increasing home efficiency: In November 2010 the Obama Administration announced a program that provides funds to help Americans make their homes more energy efficient. The funds are used, for example, to insulate attics or put double panes on windows to trap heat in the winter and cold air in the summer months.”

Many local utility companies now send “efficiency packs” to new customers that include water-saving nozzles for faucets, energy efficient light bulbs, and suggestions on how to save energy during the warmest and coolest months.

The U.S. government also provides rebates for new commercial and residential wind and solar power projects. These initiatives have a dual function. They are aimed at bolstering the U.S. economy by creating jobs in the renewable energy sector. And they are also aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions by increasing energy efficiency. America is striving to be more “green.”

Easy, intuitive

Every B2C consumer, every B2B client, in every business culture, prefers products and solutions which are easy to use, user-friendly, intuitive. The term used in the past was „fool proof“, meaning even a person of low intelligence can use it. „Fool“ is a mean-spirited term which, thankfully, is rarely used.

But, what do Americans mean by „easy to use, user-friendly, intuitive“? Is it the same in all business cultures? How easy should „easy“ be? Intuitive for what level of intelligence?

Americans value, admire, and most tellingly honor with their money, products which are both sophisticated and user-friendly. In general, they consider it to be a high art form to make the complex simple. See Apple products.

America has many different types of people, backgrounds, mentalities, levels of education and sophistication. Also the largest single market. For products to be successful they have to be easy to use, user-friendly, intuitive.

The American product philosophy: ease of use. The American approach to persuasion: break down complexity into its component parts. Decision making: isolate individual decisions, focus on the essential. This is a pattern.

Intelligent, not independent

Team member to team lead. Product to consumer. Could there be a link between those two relationships? Could it be that how a culture defines the relationship between team lead and team member is similar or analogous to the relationship between the consumer (B2C) or the customer (B2B) on the one side and the product on the other? Between the consumer and the electronic device like a computer, tablet smartphone, or between the customer and a complex production system?

But analogous not in the sense that employees are tools, objects, inhuman – although certainly there are managers, organizations, companies who indeed treat their employees as means to an end. More in the sense that it is expected that the employee, the team member, get the job done, make work and life easier for management, for fellow employees, for internal or external customers.

In the American product philosophy, how intelligent should a product be: kitchen oven, washer, automobile, computers and their software, technologies which utilize forms of artificial intelligence? Intelligent in the sense of independent, of the user?

Just as the American team lead reserves the right to go from the strategic level down to the tactical in order to manage or even implement (player-coach), so too the American consumer (B2C) or customer (B2B) wants a product which can be managed, controlled, directed, steered, run.

See the print advertisements, including large banners for example in airports, stating „Company X runs SAP.“ Enterprise software, highly complex, but at the service, at the disposal, of the client.

Americans want intelligent products, yes, but not independent of purpose. And the user determines the purpose, not the product itself.

Smart

Smart power: In international relations, the term smart power refers to the combination of hard and soft power strategies. It is defined by the Center for Strategic and International Studies as “an approach that underscores the necessity of a strong military, but also invests heavily in alliances, partnerships, and institutions of all levels to expand American influence and establish legitimacy of American action.

It is smart because it achieves the desired outcome with the minimum amount of effort and utilizes every available resource. It focuses on the desired political effect.

Intelligent products: Products increasingly rely on technology that thinks for the user. Some examples are social networking (Facebook, Twitter, etc.), smart phones, software, weapons systems, and home automation systems.

Social networking now includes functions that match peoples’ networks and interests and suggest friends or connections. This decreases the amount of time that a user needs to search for users similar to themselves. Smart phones include voice recognition software and question-answer functions like the popular Siri function of the iPhone 4S. Software often reminds users to complete tasks like upgrading software or checks to ensure a user intended to take a certain action.

Weapons systems enable troops to save time by identifying friendly and hostile forces and automatically alerting allied troops of nearby threats. In the home automation sector, technologies such as the Nest thermostat learns the patterns of its users and automatically adjusts the temperature of the home in accordance with previous trends.

“The same product forever?”

Americans rarely want to own a product for an extended period of time. Most are updated, changed, modified on a regular basis, giving them a kind of newness. These include: computers, electronicc, automobiles, and clothing styles.

Even houses are torn down so that new ones can be built in their place. To the extent that a person views themself as a product, some even alter their own physical appearance via cosmetic surgery: lift, tuck, tighten, remove, add.

Americans simply don‘t want to own, use or be seen with the same product for all too long. They want what is new, better, the „next best thing“, whether it is truly better or not.

Think of mobility in the U.S. Large percentages of Americans in a given year move from one place to another. Job mobility has always been a part of the American economy, now more than ever involuntarily.

Americans own cars for shorter amount of years than in most Western cultures. Fashion cycles are short, the trends are frequent. America is the land of fads, crazes, rages. It‘s a very large and diverse market, culture. It is a consume and consumer oriented economy.

Durable is important to Americans, but for a shorter period of time.

Warranty

Warranty: A real covenant binding the grantor of an estate and the grantor’s heirs; a collateral undertaking that a fact regarding the subject of a contract is or will be as it is expressly or by implication declared or promised to be; something that authorizes, sanctions, supports, or justifies; a usually written guarantee of the integrity of a product and of the maker’s responsibility for the repair or replacement of defective parts. Middle English warantie, garantie, to warrant.

U.S. federal law establishes minimum legal standards for warranties on products. Some companies, however, offer warranties (for purchase or for free) that exceed the legal minimum by covering a broader array of problems the buyer might face.

For example, Apple’s standard iPhone warranty includes one year of hardware repairs and 90 days of telephone support. However, an extended warranty can be added that provides full hardware and phone support coverage for two years. Private companies also offer warranties on electronics and other high value goods.

Every Toyota vehicle is supported by a 36-month/36,000-mile limited warranty coverage. In addition, most individual Toyota parts have 12-month coverage, a fairly standard warranty for new vehicles.

Most manufacturer warranties for electronics, appliances, etc. cover only products that fail due to defects in construction or malfunctions of the item’s hardware. Some consumers want more protection, so retailers like Best Buy offer protection plans that go beyond the manufacturer’s warranty. Best Buy‘s Geek Squad Protection Plan, for example, covers normal wear and tear, no lemon policy, accidental, and damage from handling. Since these plans cover a much wider spectrum of potential problems, they tend to be quite expensive.

In order to remain competitive, American retailers offer generous return and exchange policies. Most companies print their policy directly on the receipt and use phrases like „easy returns and exchanges,“ „no hassle returns“ or „100% satisfaction guarantee.“ Some companies, like outdoor supplier REI, allow customers to return products for a full refund or exchange at any time for any reason.

Many retailers (WalMart, Target) do not require a receipt for returns or exchanges. If no receipt is available, stores generally refund the credit on gift cards that can only be used at the store.

These generous policies highlight the importance that American consumers assign to customer-centered policies that are clearly communicated and executed in a friendly manner. Retailers, on the other hand, encourage buyers to spend first and think later. They give consumers confidence that satisfaction with a particular product or brand is guaranteed.