France id is famous for its branded wine, which is known for their great quality, taste and class. With upwards of 50 million hectoliters or in excess of 7 billion bottles, easily making France the world’s largest wine producer. The centuries-long, French Wine tradition dates back to the Roman and Greek settlement in the country, who began the cultivation of rich wines that took fool advantage of France favorable climate and fertility. Some territories in France were specifically mandated to cultivate and produce wine to meet the demand of the expanding Roman Empire and the European nobility. This carried on through the Middle Ages, with monasteries maintaining expansive vineyards and advancing wine-making knowledge and experience. The centuries of practice and absolute quality demands, France led Europe and the rest of the world.
In order to protect this rich tradition, the French government did in 1935, created a board and laws to protect the trademarks, brands and quality of French Wine. This included the protection systems for origin designation, wine-making, packaging and production. These legislations categorized wine into wines that carries the French producer designation (Vin de Table), while the VIN de Pays, which must bear the specific French region, from where the vines and the wine was produced, effectively allowing wine producers to differentiate their products according to the wine varieties or production facilities. On the other hand, the Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée is subject to stern quality, packaging, labeling and distribution restrictions. These restrictions serve to not only protect the high quality, but to also allow the country’s wine industry to extract premium prices from their world-famous products.
French Wine and Cultural Dimensions
Power Distance
The power distance dimension accounts for the extent to which powerful members in the French society expect or accept to the unequal distribution of power. The power distance, which is defined from the perceptions or relationships that individuals with the least power in society. France had a score of 68, which implies a considerable power distance in France. This implies that while there are considerable inequalities, but they are largely accepted by the least powerful in society. Formal and informal hierarchies distribute power among the members of society, with the most powerful members of the French establishment having access to privileges that other members of society acceptably do not have access to. In addition, the high power distance shows that power in the country is highly centralized. The management’s approach towards leadership/management is largely formal, with interactions through the hierarchy being through the established, formal channels. The premium French Wine demonstrates the country’s considerable power distance in varied ways. To begin with, the country has moved to differentiate its wine in order to set it apart from other wines in the market, because of the actual or perceived difference between French Wines such as Champagnes and other wines. This largely stems from the country’s feudal and imperial past, where French territories were mandated to produce wines for Europe’s aristocracy, which not only came with the expectation of high quality, but also a perception of the same. In addition, the belief in the provision of quality products for the rich and super rich, shows just how economically influential the wealthy have been in the French culture, coupled by the fact that the country’s population has a relatively low poverty rate. Indeed, the country has a GDP of $2.291 trillion in 2012, with more than $36,100 GDP per capita. Its purchasing power parity is $2.29 trillion. This represents a considerable spending power of the French population, but the GINI Index that shows the extent of inequality in the distribution of income is considerably high at 32.7 in 2008.
Individualism Individuals refers to the extent of society’s interdependence of society members. It describes the images that individuals have about themselves and their heritage, and the balance between collective and individual interests. Collective societies place emphasis on the collective good of the community as against those of the individual. France’s score on the individuality index is 71. This effectively implies that the French culture and people prefer private or individual interests or taking care of oneself or the immediate family members compare to the broader community, region or country. This aspect is also evident in the French Wine. To begin with, the country’s wine industry is controlled by powerful in families and individuals, whose interests are directly protected. Further, the wines cater for the specific individual customer needs as against the wider needs of the market. The stringent vine cultivation, wine production, packaging and marketing etc are geared at meeting the specific needs of the rich and wealthy customers and not the general market. This best shows that the French society and culture are dependent on those who can pay the bills and not the general population.
On the other hand however, the protection of the trademarks, brands and the premium pricing ultimately benefits the farming communities in the wine growing regions in the country. While the direct from the wine incomes go to private individuals, they ultimately benefit the greater regional economy through the provision of employment opportunities, offer investment opportunities to other secondary and tertiary support institutions in the country. This is effect is used by the capitalists to back their protectionist strategies for their wine.
Masculinity and Femininity
The balance between male and female power is an important cultural factor that reveals a lot about a culture. This is not least because the culture shapes the relationships between men and women. According to Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, a relatively high score points to a highly competitive society that treasures merit, brutal competition, success. Success is almost solely defined in a manner so that the winner takes everything. On the other hand, a low score implies that the society’s dominant values are founded on caring for one another, compassion and great quality of life. France scores 43, with the implication that is a feminine nation, founded on a socialist, welfare system that values few working hours, social benefits, state benefits, high taxes to finance the state welfare. The femininity of the French society does also come through in its wine. For a start, wine is associated with chivalry and romance, in the same that chocolates are. Chivalry and romance require gentle, caring behavior towards one another, and especially women. Masculine societies such as the United States and Russia are heavy guzzlers of hard alcoholic drinks such a s Vodka and beer, which is possibly explains the lack of a glorified wine industry and drinking culture such as there is in France.
Long Term Orientation
Societies must make clear choices between the present and future goals, through the decisions that they make on a daily basis. France scores a mere 39, which implies that the country values short term interests over longer term goals. Traditions and norms are paramount, especially given the deeply religious and chivalrous past that Christianity and feudalist Europe instilled in the French culture. However, when it comes to business, investment, savings and consumption decisions are purely driven by short term goals. This is part the reason why the rich and wealthy French people lead ostentatious lives that include the heavy consumption of luxurious wines, which plays into the hands of the high-end wine producing, distribution and marketing industries. High consumption is an important factor that drives the French wine industry, and without it, the country would have been incapable of sustaining its premium-price extracting industry.
Lessons and Conclusions
While many countries have the right climatic, technological and other knowhow to produce quality, premium wine, they do not. I have found out that the reason as to why the country has been successful in the production of wine, because of the cultural predisposition and a history that actively encouraged the production of wine. The country’s success has little to do with the comparative advantages that it has in producing wine, since countries such as Portugal, Spain, Greece and even the United Kingdom have similar advantages. However, the country’s unique culture has served to help it create the competitive advantages that it currently enjoys. In the same way, the premium quality wine production is equally embedded in the historical and cultural demand for the country to meet the needs of the high-end palettes.
This is the same reason why China produces fine China, Germany produces fine vehicles and the United States has a powerful entertainment industry. The cultural demand for a product drives the demand for the same, effectively encouraging the growth of the industry. In addition, the products develop according to the cultural demand that its consumers expect of them. French Wine for instance tapped in the French culture’s femininity, chivalry, ostentatious consumption and short term orientation of consumers. Without these conditions, the industry could have possibly died out with the collapsing feudalism in Europe. Instead it survived because the culture encouraged it to not only survive, but also thrive. In addition, I have learnt that the cultural metaphors are creations of culture that in turn assume the very nature of these cultures, effectively serving to represent the very aspects of culture.
References
CIA World Factbook. (2012, Dec 23). France. Retrieved Nov 4, 2013, from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/fr.html
Robinson, J. (2006). "France". Oxford Companion to Wine (Third Edition ed. . Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Schein, E. (2010). Organizational Culture and Leadership. Boston: John Wiley & Sons.
The Geert-Hofstede Center. (2012, Aug 9). France. Retrieved Nov 3, 2013, from http://geert-hofstede.com/france.html
