How is anthropology related to business

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We can apply these same skills and training to the various cultures of businesses and industries. But to craft a sensible pitch one must become familiar with an industry and its practices. We have strategic opportunity to elevate anthropology and prove our value for a wide variety of industries and fields across academia, business, government, and nonprofit sectors.

But in order for businesses to understand our value, we must serve as translators and show how our training and experience can improve their products, services, and even their bottom line. Ultimately, getting the word out that anthropologists are experts at the skills, concepts, and methods that are gaining momentum and value in the business world remains the responsibility of anthropologists.

We can accomplish this through professional collaborations with psychology and sociology colleagues who already actively engage with business, by developing partner projects with industry groups, by promoting the value and relevance of anthropological perspectives, and by training students how to apply their skills in the business world.

We should seize this opportunity to grow our discipline, find jobs for our students, and make significant changes to the world. Thank you to all 35 participants for their insights and discussions. Melissa Vogel is director of qualitative research at Hanover Research and was the founding director of the business anthropology program at Clemson University, where she is now a Professor Emerita. She has 25 years of mixed methods research experience in the United States and Latin America and is currently focused on improving corporate approaches to qualitative research and demonstrating the value of anthropology for business strategy.

Adam Gamwell is a design anthropologist and digital producer. He co-founded Missing Link Studios , a collaborative social impact storytelling and design research studio, and also works as a cultural anthropologist and researcher with MotivBase.

He is the creator and host of the podcast This Anthro Life. Cite as: Vogel, Melissa and Adam Gamwell. DOI: Article begins Businesses want and need anthropologists. Within an organization, an actor can be anyone from a client to the CEO. Their goals differ, but considering each helps in understanding how the organization functions. Are people dependent on the organization? Is there a mutual benefit? The answers to these questions inform what role the organization plays.

Finally, organizational anthropologists will consider multiple perspectives. This translates to a more inclusive organizational design. Why design your business with these concepts in mind? It will help create an optimized experience for customers and employees alike. What do consumers need? What motivates them to buy? These are questions that anthropology of marketing and consumer behavior can answer. Researchers will analyze data through both emic and etic lenses.

The emic lens is the perspective of the consumer. The etic lens is the perspective of the researcher. Taking both approaches allows researchers to understand the mind of the consumer. It also lets them apply academic concepts to analyze behavior. Understanding the customer is essential to great marketing research. Consumption, anthropologists say, is essential to understanding culture. The converse is true as well. If the aim is to provide the client with a rich and predictive understanding of a culture, study the appropriate group of people.

Faigelman and her staff immerse themselves in the world of the target group. For example, for a client who wants to launch a new product in a convenience store, they might closely watch teens shopping in those spaces. Or, on behalf of a drug company rolling out a new medication, they might observe doctors prescribing to patients. The discipline of cultural anthropology has been applied successfully across a variety of business categories that include pharmaceuticals, food and food services, automotive and financial services.

This allowed the business to focus its innovation planning on three streams: the interests of foodies, nutrition and cultural diversity. They found a need to respect deeply held emotional and intellectual positions.

But an anthropological approach can be used in-office, as well. Human Resources management and organizational development can benefit from such an approach. Human Branding also conducted research for a pharmaceutical company that was developing a new cancer drug.

It was important for that company to understand how different cultures think about and talk about cancer, how caregiving is delivered and how physicians are viewed by patients and families. Every business is under pressure to grow and to anticipate market and competing trends.

Even before a new product is developed, for example, anthropological research and insight can help a business decode socio-cultural factors that set the context for what people are saying … and what they are not saying.

This can help a business think in a way that is future forward.