Social process
The Social Process Triangle
Firms endeavoring to expand into foreign countries need to evaluate the country through both traditional quantitative means and also through a qualitative socioeconomic perspective. In his book, Borderless Business, Clarence Mann introduced the concept of the Social Process Triangle (SPT) to facilitate analysis of the “underlying dynamics of any society” (2006). According to Mann, those dynamics can be described as the interactions between culture, economy and politics (2006). Culture addresses the influence and dynamics of values on a market, such as religion, philosophy, and social relationships. These aspects of culture drive market preferences; for example, in India, Hinduism influences products in international restaurant chains such as McDonald’s, where beef is not on the menu (Alon & Jaffe, 2013). Similarly, Coca-Cola has rebranded Diet Coke as Coke Light in certain European countries to appeal to the local lingo used to describe low-calorie food and beverages (http://www.coca-colacompany.com/contact-us/faqs). Economy examines the specific industry and factors of production, such as availability of materials, education and skill levels of human resources, infrastructure and distribution channels. Political factors, such as how decisions are made and controlled, show the influence of government on business, and the perceived responsibility of business and/or government to support social needs is addressed (Mann & Goetz, 2006 needs is addressed (Mann & Goetz, 2006). Once a firm determines the culture, economy and politics of a country and its industry within that country, the firm can use the results to compare that market to its home market as well as other markets in which it already does business, and other potential markets to determine the best next steps for expansion. Not all aspects of the SPT have equal weight in each country, nor do they look the same from country to country. For example, in the United
Firms endeavoring to expand into foreign countries need to evaluate the country through both traditional quantitative means and also through a qualitative socioeconomic perspective. In his book, Borderless Business, Clarence Mann introduced the concept of the Social Process Triangle (SPT) to facilitate analysis of the “underlying dynamics of any society” (2006). According to Mann, those dynamics can be described as the interactions between culture, economy and politics (2006). Culture addresses the influence and dynamics of values on a market, such as religion, philosophy, and social relationships. These aspects of culture drive market preferences; for example, in India, Hinduism influences products in international restaurant chains such as McDonald’s, where beef is not on the menu (Alon & Jaffe, 2013). Similarly, Coca-Cola has rebranded Diet Coke as Coke Light in certain European countries to appeal to the local lingo used to describe low-calorie food and beverages (http://www.coca-colacompany.com/contact-us/faqs). Economy examines the specific industry and factors of production, such as availability of materials, education and skill levels of human resources, infrastructure and distribution channels. Political factors, such as how decisions are made and controlled, show the influence of government on business, and the perceived responsibility of business and/or government to support social needs is addressed (Mann & Goetz, 2006 needs is addressed (Mann & Goetz, 2006). Once a firm determines the culture, economy and politics of a country and its industry within that country, the firm can use the results to compare that market to its home market as well as other markets in which it already does business, and other potential markets to determine the best next steps for expansion. Not all aspects of the SPT have equal weight in each country, nor do they look the same from country to country. For example, in the United