Abstract
This document seeks to embrace marketing framing distinctions from the US to Indonesia; specifically as regards a textbook.
Basic Components
The basic components considered include the following: retail outlets, advertising approach, pricing, product design and branding. Context on Context
The initial approach to this inquiry was to create a polling script, with the target goal of polling 30 people (Fig. 1). The purpose was not only to establish (beyond educated guess) where the product would fall as regards sales channels and advertising approaches, and how that would compare to other ordinary purchases.
The author apologizes to you, dear reader, because the author is not surprised by the subsequent challenge (and should have known better). What is seen in figure 1 is a machine translation. Before handing this off to an on the ground audience of Indonesians, a more meaningful and authentic translation was sought.
Backup
The backup approach to gleaning this information was to synthesize what this author knows with conversational feedback from an Indonesian. The preponderance of marketed sales done is by way of television (Tarigan, 2010). However, this, too, needs to be tempered. The statement made was more within the framework of regular consumable goods (much as the poll was set up).
The author was, however, able to jump past Ms. Tarigan’s interview, (who is working on her second baccalaureate degree; one accomplished in Indonesia, now working on another in the US), and interview a baccalaureate student there in Indonesia (by way of Skype). Ms. Ribka Bukit does not drink coffee (consequently, those are marked not applicable). The scores for the textbook are as presumed (even while acknowledging that this is a relatively unscientific survey). Ms. Bukit has to purchase textbooks as she as instructed to. Therefore, this products’ marketing does not conform to that of other ordinary products. On occasion Ms. Bukit purchases her textbooks online, however, usually purchases the book in the school bookstore (University of Sumatera Utara; http://www.usu.ac.id/). Being a young Indonesian lady in her early 20s, shopping has an otherwise entertaining significance; as demonstrated by the other ordinary products having scores of average or above, with an emphasis (as indicated by Ms. Tarigan) on television advertising and retail store purchases.
As regards marketing and distribution channels, the question of why is bound to the type of product we are speaking up. Presuming the textbook comes into being, and further presuming an Indonesian distribution, its adoption by most learning institutions its purchase becomes a fait accompli. One chooses whether to go to school, or take a class. Beyond which one is ordered to purchase a text. This hardly serves as marketing; more, it is simply a communication function.
Is there a cultural affinity zone? In fact there is. However, with marketing being so thin, at best, any customized communications (posters, bookmarks and other ephemera for the bookstore) would simply shift by language for neighboring countries. This presumes that any imagery, tagline, etc. is conservative enough so as not to be controversial.
What factors influences standardization/customization? Items such is the aforementioned imagery, tagline and so on can be standardized (again, only customized by language) as long as one is respecting the cultures of that region. An example of this would be to demure from any nudes and from any violent images. However, given the global approach of the text, such considerations should be givens, in order to be consistent with the work itself.
Conclusions
To the degree to which the intended textbook is standardized to a global audience, to that degree no further customization (beyond language) need occur.
Although pursuing the pole may be a moot point, it remains an interesting pursuit, especially when considering the opportunity of placing the text in retail outlets. This would also necessitate the pursuit of other metrics, possibly focus groups, certainly demographics.
References
Bukit, R. (2010, November 26). Interview by F. Davis [conversation on Skype]. [personal], .
Global Business Indonesia [Interactive data sets, links to resources, etc.]. (2010). Time Inc.. Retrieved from http://www.time.com/time/global_business/indonesia
Indag - Ministry of Industry and Trade - The Republic of Indonesia. (2000). Indag - Ministry of Industry and Trade - The Republic of Indonesia. Retrieved from Ministry of Industry and Trade: http://depperindag.tripod.com/eng_2000/organ/organ1/organ_t.htm
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