SUCCESS OF HOLLYWOOD MOVIES IN INDIA & CULTURE AS A BARRIER

somebody asked -- "Is culture a barrier in international businsess"? It seems to be a quiet normal / simple question to answer & the obvious answer is -- "yes"


but then if we take the case of "hollywood movies" as a product & their success in India, it is like an exception to the above point. the culture of both places is different but still hollywood movies are successful in India ... so it seems that culture is not a barrier in this case. Looking at the success of hollywood movies in India , it seems that "everybody understands the language of entertainment"... or the language of entertainment is same everywhere.


I disagree, ... because - We as Indians can be divided into broadly 2 categories ... urban educated of metro cities & rest. It is visible that metros are very similar to the west, so the success of hollywood movies is very likely there. if we release 10 hollywood movies in metro, may be 8 will do well, but it is not like that in rest of india.

Now, if we leave the first category & talk about the rest of India...

1) even if we think as residents of a "B class" city or a "mini metro" ... many hollywood movies do not get released in this part ... WHY??? & moreover, most of the movies that are released here are of a particular type (ie action, thrill, fiction, full of special effects) WHY??? -- because the film distributors know that for us ... hollywood movies means - action, special effects, technology, thrill, ficton etc etc ... so for us all this is fine once in a while not everyday. JUST IMAGINE ... NO SONGS, NO GROUP DANCING, NO MARRIAGES, NO MELODRAMA ... that too in all the movies. MOST OF US JUST CANT DO WITHOUT THESE.

3) If we say that culture is not a barrier in case of hollywood movies in India, then answer my question - why dont we release them "as it is"? why do we have to sensor them? the answer is - our culture can accept technology, action but not other things (u understand that)

4) last but most important --- language is a important part of culture ... can we say that holywood movies will be as successful as they are now if we release them in ENGLISH & in other language .... i doubt.

So i think that fortunately this product - "hollywood movies" - is like McDonalds or Pizza Hut ... where you can adjust the product according to the local culture & hence they do well , but otherwise it is like McDonalds selling beef in India ... didnt accepted isnt it? So culture is playing a vital role even in case of success of hollywood movies in India.

What's ur opinion .. is culture a barrier or not????

STRATEGIC INTENT & VISION, MISSION, BUSINESS DEFINITION ...

Strategic intent - use the "divide & rule" formula!!!

We discussed that "strategic" is mainly used with long term (i hope you remember)

"Intent" is basically related to "intentions" that is "a plan to do something" is an intention

Join the 2 - & you get - "a plan to do something in the long term" .... isnt it

this "plan to do something in long term" can be expressed in vague terms as well as specific terms. ... right

Now, ... here come vision, mission, business definition, goals, objectives - just see that all these terms basically express - "a firm's plan to do something in the long term" ....

So, here is you answer - "STRATEGIC INTENT" is - what an organization plans to strive for in future (long term), and it can be expressed in vague / broad terms as well as in specific terms

So, vision & mission of an organization expresses the strategic intent of the organization in broad terms .... and ... business definition, goals, objectives expresses the strategic intent of the organization in relatively specific terms.

In other words, we can say that - vision, mission, business definition, goals & objectives - are (just) "tools" to express "strategic intent" of the organization.

A QUESTION OF IDEALISM.

It is said that - "if one has to be left with a reasonable amount of idealism by the time one is 50, one had better have it in great doses when one is young." This is said because idealism wear thin with time (especially in Indian conditions).

We always hope / ask that higher educational institutions must ensure that their raw material had idealism in good measure.

BUT, it is also being felt by some that - idealism is costing some bright youngsters their lives.

The murder of IIM-L passout S. Manjunath on November 19, 2005, by oil adulterators in UP. manjunath was belived to be proceeding agianst the owner of Mittal Automobiles in lakhimpur after the outlet was found involved in mass ireegularities in supply of fuel. Also, 2 years ago, Satyendra Dubey an alumnus of IIT Mumbai lost his life for blowing the whistle on corrupt contractors. Does anyone knows what happened to Dubey's murderers, & there may be others like these who fought corruption at the cost of their lives.

Isn't it that our degenerate system protects anyone powerful if the power flows from gun runners existing as politicians.

So, what should we advise to younger generation - that they should stop being idealistic; that they should be pragmatic & play the system; that they can bank on the political connections to go away with murder ... OR DO YOU THINK OTHERWISE!!!

needs can "NOT" be created!!!

We had a debate - "needs can be created", I disagree.

In my opinion there are some needs which are inherent in (almost) all humans, like the need to look good, the need to become faster, stronger, the need of more convenience, the need of love, affection, communication, the need to explore, go places, the need to learn etc.

I strongly believe that products are just made to satisfy these needs. For example - the need to communicate has been satisfied by - sending messengers, having pegions, letters, phone, pagers, mobile & so on - the products keep on changing but the need that they address has always been the same.

Similarly, there are expressed needs & there are unexpressed needs or hidden needs, & what the marketer can do is create products to satisfy the expressed needs & discover & ignite the unexpressed needs, for example - humans have always appreciated music but they were not aware that it can be listened while moving but then Sony invented walkman & the rest is history

One more example is that humans always had the need of capturing life's moments, they made paintings on walls of the caves then one day a company created camera, from then the product has been modified many times to make it easier & better for people to satisfy their need of convenience & capturing life's precious moments & mobile with camera is an extension of company's effort to satisfy the underlying needs of people.

my conclusion is - needs can not be created, they are there inside the humans & marketer's task is to find them convert it into products & satisfy them & constantly improve the products to satisfy them in a better way.

What do you say???