Integrating cultural factors into product design

The globalization of markets has become commonplace. Yet the exchange of products has existed since ancient times, and has always been an element in the meeting of cultures. In the new context of globalization, companies aspire to export their products and, by the same token, to avoid too much invasive competition from external companies and multinationals in particular. But what can they do?

The generally accepted strategies revolve around differentiating their products from those of competitors, while at the same time meeting customer expectations as closely as possible (see ). Strategic intelligence, market-driven product design and supply-side marketing illustrate this new age. As a complement to these methods, another approach is now being introduced, which consists of taking into account the cultural background of each population targeted as potential customers, and factoring this into product design.

This strategy is not entirely new. It has long been adopted by food companies. For example, Roquefort and Amora in France, and Nescafé in Switzerland, have long been adapting the tastes of their products to different customer groups in order to penetrate markets other than their original ones. MacDonald's has recently embarked on the same path, adapting its products or offering new ones specifically for certain markets. The products offered by MacDo Paris are not all identical to those offered by MacDo US.

If the archetypal American multinational has embarked on this strategy, it may well have a future. However, this approach is generally limited to the agri-food sector, and remains empirical. The bulk of the industry still operates according to a model of universal products adapted to the regulations and standards existing in each country. These adaptations, although sometimes very costly industrially, remain superficial and limited. They are often formal adaptations that have little impact on the product's use value.

Advances in knowledge about interculturality are still very recent. However, the transfer of this knowledge to industry is already underway. The aim of this passage is to enable us to move beyond the stage of ignorance of the cultural phenomenon or its empirical treatment, and respond in a more sophisticated way to the new context of globalization.

The aim of this article is to provide a few basic guidelines for tackling the very structure of a product, in order to adapt it to the conceptions of different markets. Aware of existing cultural differences, the product manager may decide to adapt his product to one market, to design another, not to go to that market or to go there, but knowing the risks he is taking.