China recently overtook the US as being the largest car consumers. Don't be too quick to discount this as being unimportant though. China may be on the other side of the world but customer demands from China reflect what the consumer can expect in the US.
Globalization has drastically changed several communities but this new influence from the East may prove interesting. This new found influence is termed as the 'C-Factor' by journalists.
Companies from South Korean and Japan have been revered for their technological expertise and approach to business. The digital and technology landscape is dominated by these companies creating everything from computers to watches. But in recent years, particularly in the home computer market, Western companies have achieved a large share of the market. Even more recently there has been the growth of two new East Asian countries within the technology market - China and Taiwan.
China creates some of the world's most popular, high-end technology devices. China is now also home to the 4th largest PC manufacturer in the world.
Although not quite as famous in global economies as China, Taiwanese technology companies continue to rapidly grow. Acer has become the second biggest computer manufacturer - jumping over Dell to reach the coveted spot. This shows the technology industry to be a continually changing market. It will be interesting to monitor how the C-Factor (and T-Factor) affects industries such as health, food and so on.
In comparison, the Asian markets are often seen as difficult to break into by Western companies. Although it goes without saying, what is popular on one continent may be unheard of on another. To crack the Asian market Western companies often offer radically different products, brands and marketing campaigns. This can simply be explained by cultural differences - ideas do not always translate well. Companies that operate online, Asian countries can prove to be particularly difficult.
It is easy to think of the world converging into one homogenized, global culture. The spread of English and international brands fuels these ideas further. However, with the technology and the Internet there are many key differences between cultures.
For example, SMS phone messaging is one of the most popular methods of communication amongst young people in Europe. In certain Asian countries, it is mostly unused and email technology is used instead. Furthermore, cell phones and other devices may be a more popular method of accessing the Internet in Asian countries compared to the conventional desktop computer in the West. This poses genuine problems for online companies - if the technology that is favored is different then you cannot merely translate a website and expect it to gain traction.
One of the most striking differences between cultural Internet usage is the social network phenomenon. Facebook is one of the most popular websites in the world. The number of Facebook users would rank it the third biggest population behind China and India if it was a country. However, its usage is not as pervasive in some East Asian countries.. In China, Facebook is ranked outside of the top 100 most visited websites and it is only ranked as number 27 in Japan. Twitter, another stalwart of online social networking has a much smaller user number in East Asian countries.
Similarly, online bookmarking (allowing you to save all your bookmarks online) is also not used a lot. Most users come from English speaking countries whilst the number of users from East Asian countries is significantly smaller. Language differences may be accountable for some of this but other factors also play a part. The Layout, design and content should all be tailored for specific cultures. This is largely the reason why there are few truly global brands.
You may be wondering what is popular in Asian countries then. Blogs are really popular in Asia and are used more prolifically compared to the West. Blogging is popular all over the world but Asian cultures have taken it up a lot more vehemently. Celebrities often own blogs and frequently write posts and blog pictures. Friends also work together on joint blogs. Blogging platforms have been specifically created for certain markets and have individual features and unique quirks. Personal homepages are also very popular with many people setting up home pages which feature pictures, links, music and so on.
It is easy to see the struggles faced by international businesses in the social network industry. If you combine this with the C-Factor and Asia's new emergence in the technology industry everyone may soon be talking about how the West is different from the East. It will be interesting to see how the new technology companies continue to grow and if they will be overtaken by established or new competition.
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