dissertattion full.docx

ESSEX BUSINESS SCHOOL

POSTGRADUATE DISSERTATION

GLOBALIZATION OR GLOCALIZATION: MARKETING CHRISTMAS AS

AN ILLUSTRATIVE CASE STUDY

By

STEFANO STEPHANOU

1100895

Tuesday 11th

of September 2012

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of

MSc in Management, Marketing and Society

2011-2012

UP:11/09/2012-15:40:38 WM:11/09/2012-15:41:56 M:BE981-7-FY A:11a1 R:1100895 C:F6E39D60D741AF20083A061438CB20D9FD6F9BDE

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 03

ABSTRACT 04

INTRODUCTION 05

CHAPTER 1: GLOBALIZATION VS GLOCALIZATION 07

1.1 INTRODUCTION 07 1.2 THE PROCESS OF GLOBALIZATION 08 1.3 GLOBALIZATION: ILLUSION OR REALITY? 09 1.4 GLOBALIZATION: THE BATTLE OF CULTURE 12 1.5 GLOCALIZATION AND CHRISTMAS 15 1.6 CONCLUSION 16

CHAPTER 2: THE STORY OF CHRISTMAS 17

2.1 INTRODUCTION 17 2.2 A SNOWBALL EFFECT 18 2.3 FROM RELIGION TO CONSUMPTION 22 2.4 CONCLUSION 27

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 28

3.1 INTRODUCTION 28 3.2 AIM AND OBJECTIVES 28 3.3 RELEVANCE OF GREECE 29 3.4 PHILOSOPHICAL APPROACHES WITHIN MANAGEMENT RESEARCH 30 3.5 ADOPTING A PHILOSOPHICAL APPROACH 33 3.6 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND DESIGN 35 3.7 STRUCTURE AND EXECUTION OF SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS 37

CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS 39

4.1 INTRODUCTION 39 4.2 TEXTUAL DATA ANALYSIS 40 4.3 SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEW ANALYSIS 43 4.4 CONCLUSION 49

CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION AND FINAL CONCLUSION 51

5.1 TRENDS OF GLOBALIZATION 51 5.2 CHRISTMAS AND GLOCALIZATION 53 5.3 A MARKETING PERCPECTIVE OF GLOCALIZATION 56 5.4 CO-CREATION 57 5.5 FINAL CONCLUSION 60 BIBLIOGRAPHY 63


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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The idea of this study was born out of a combination of a passion for marketing and an

interest in the celebration and the marketing of Christmas. Having a close connection with the

mentality and perspectives of marketing, I would always hail modern Christmas as the peak

of marketing strategies and its influence on culture, as one will almost certainly correlate

Santa Claus with Coca-Cola. Moreover, having taken modules such as Critical Marketing and

International Management during my Masters at the University of Essex, I became more

interested in globalization and its effects on international marketing. I would first and

foremost like to thank my supervisor Professor Philip Hancock for helping me form my

dissertation topic as well as the precious time he devoted to guiding me through this study

and his generous provision of useful references and resources including work that he himself

has written. We both shared a common interest and excitement for my topic on Christmas and

that is one factor that created a much more pleasant and helpful atmosphere that was needed

in a time of hard work and pressure. What is more, I would like to thank my family for

supporting and providing me with useful advice during this last period of studies. I would

also like to thank my friends and fellow students at the University of Essex, Petros Troparis,

Adonis Kilonis, Dimitris Andreou for maintaining the balance between fun and work, a

balance that is crucial to the sanity of one’s life, as well as George Georgiou especially

during the period of writing our dissertations where we supported and motivated each other to

keep pushing until our work was completed.


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ABSTRACT

This study focuses on questioning the gravity and suitability of defining the current and

future environment of our financial, economic and even cultural worlds with the word

globalization. Through an in depth analysis of the creation, expansion and evolution of

celebrating Christmas from a local religious holiday to a global commercialized event, this

study draws upon evidence from both secondary and primary sources in order to generate an

argument that in the face of globalist ideologies, culture may play a vital role in the

acceptance, resistance or rejection of global convergence. In effect, this study argues that

there is a more suitable definition of the phenomena that we witness in today’s world, one

that has been referred to as Glocalization (Miller, 1993). Moreover, this study relates this

argument to marketing perspectives through the works of Cova and Dalli (2009) on co-

creation, and displays a potential direction for the future of marketing strategies in the form

of facilitating consumers, who now seem to have been transformed into producers, with a

base and template to create and produce new products or services.


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INTRODUCTION

In the pursuit of survival, man has gathered clothing, hunted game, and built tools and

shelter. However, recalling Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (1989), ‘as one level of need is met

at once, other (and higher) needs emerge and come to dominate’ (Knights et al, 2007: 45). In

effect, when basic (survival) needs were satisfied, over the years man began the quest for

pleasure and identity through intangible (psychological) and tangible needs. Trade evolved as

an attempt to gain wealth and comfort in our standard of living. Over time notable men,

among them being Adam Smith (1776) and Karl Marx (1848), advanced theories that

transformed the simplicities of trade into a seemingly complex monetary system that has

evolved today. With the development of technology during the industrial revolution, as well

as the effects of two World Wars, we saw a world of connected financial markets,

international trade and investment, and a growing convergence of the world’s economies

emerge, resulting in what has come to be known by many as the process of globalization.

Although financial and economic systems are of vital importance, however, culture will

always play a major role in the influence and direction of societies and civilizations. Hence,

one may argue that because of strong western marketing and media, cultures around the

world are being influencing, resulting in a form of “cultural imperialism”, and thus there is a

growing integration of cultures into one homogenous cultural direction, guided perhaps by

the West. As a result, marketing and production may revert back into mass production and

standardization. Conversely however, cultures posses extremely strong dominant belief

systems that have been followed for centuries by societies and thus it seems challenging to

accept the fact that these cultures will simply fade and be replaced by one global culture.


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This study will attempt to examine whether there is indeed a process of globalization taking

place from a cultural perspective and its significance in terms of marketing. This study will

use in depth analysis of the creation, expansion and celebration of Christmas from ancient

religious times to today’s commercial celebration. It is the purpose of this dissertation to view

arguments depicting the process of globalization in order to gain knowledge of the

surrounding debate, and then proceed to examine how Christmas, a Christian celebration,

managed to spread globally even to countries that are non-Christian. The reason for exploring

this process is to present Christmas as a direct example and result of cultural clashes and

hybrid formations that imply that we are witnessing a process of Glocalization rather than

Globalization, where the global meets the local.

Moreover, by gathering primary and secondary data in the form of semi-structured interviews

and magazines that portray details of Christmas in Greece, a Christian orthodox nation, this

study will attempt to further support the argument that glocalization is a more suitable

definition of the process we observe today. In proving such a point, this dissertation will then

attempt to explore the importance of glocalization in terms of marketing where the arguments

of Cova and Dalli (2009) on Co-Creation and the transformation of the consumer into a

producer relate directly to the example of Christmas and glocalization strategies that may

pave the way for the future of marketing practice.


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CHAPTER 1: GLOBALIZATION VS GLOCALIZATION

1.1 INTRODUCTION

‘It has been said that arguing against globalization is like arguing against the laws of gravity’

(Unvienna, 2002). According to advocates such as Held (2000), Stiglitz (2002) and Harvey

(2007), it has become evident since the 1980’s that the process of globalization is

increasingly converging national economies and integrating the world as a whole. As Hirst

(2009) points out globalization was found to have been witnessed during the 1870s, however,

according to Wolf et al (2004) it was during and after the clash of economic and political

ideologies, known as the Cold War, that this process of globalization began to generate a

“visible” global convergence of trade and national economies, with the rise and increasing

advocacy of Neoliberalism in the hope that globalization would instigate a better world for

the human being. Nevertheless, globalization is not without its criticism.

The following chapter will consider this debate surrounding the process of globalization.

Furthermore, it will attempt to depict an explanation of the term globalization as well as

presenting its recent evolvement. Moreover, drivers and effects of globalization including its

positive and negative consequences that it brings will be investigated. This chapter will also

examine the debate between two perspectives; that of the hyperglobalist perspective of

globalization which will be presented through the discussion of Neoliberalism and the Strong

Globalization Thesis. Then the antiglobalist perspective will be examined, depicting evidence

that criticizes advocates of hyperglobalization, and supports the belief that perhaps it is a

process of glocalization that is occurring. Lastly, the socio-cultural aspects of globalization

will be depicted in which we may observe a debate between a homogenized global

convergence of culture and society and the spread of Western influences of culture and


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society to the rest of the world. In effect, through this the issue of Christmas in today’s world

will be illustrated as an example of the process of globalization, or in fact glocalization, of the

world.

1.2 THE PROCESS OF GLOBALIZATION

Although there is no agreed on definition, one may argue that globalization ‘involves the

creation of linkages or interconnections between nations. It is usually understood as a process

in which barriers (physical, political, economic, cultural) separating different regions of the

world are reduced or removed, thereby stimulating exchanges in goods, services money, and

people.’ (Hamilton, 2009: 5). Moreover, in the process of globalization ‘capital sweeps across

countries at electron speed; manufacturing and the generation of services move flexibly

among countries and are networked across borders; markets are supplied from a continually

shifting set of sources’ (Adams, 2006: 29). In addition, when ‘understood as a process,

economic globalization also implies an evolving transformation or qualitative shift in the

organization and dynamics of the world economy’ (Ravenhill, 2007: 281). As a result, this

global transformation may be causing specific effects ‘such that the world economy

increasingly begins to operate as a singular system’ (Ibid). Hence, a global convergence of

the world is a path that seems likely and even inevitable.

Looking back at history, ‘globalization is a concept whose roots go back at least to the

nineteenth century, notably in the ideas of Karl Marx’ (Dicken, 2011: 2), and while certain

aspects of globalization began to surface after the Second World War, alongside the

establishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the World Bank and the International

Monetary Fund (IMF) at the Bretton Woods UN Conference 1944, “it has only been in the


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last 30 years or so that globalization has entered the popular imagination in a really big way’

(Dicken, 2011: 2). In effect, these aspects grew rapidly with the end of the Cold War, (as

capitalism was perceived to be the victor) nation-states began to adopt Neoliberal ideologies

as they dissolved barriers to global trade and investment, enabling firms to transform into

multinational corporations (MNC’s); corporations that have now become powerful actors in

today’s world, and outsource their production and seek Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), and

the evolution of technological advances significantly contributed to the global integration of

the world and the generation of the network society.

In terms of the drivers of globalization, one major influence is technology, in which ‘more

powerful computers and communications technology has allowed the easy transfer of data.

The internet has revolutionized the way in which consumers purchase products’ (Hall et al,

2006: 777). In effect, MNC’s ‘increasingly plan their production, their innovation and their

marketing on a scale that goes beyond the national.’ (Knights et al, 2007: 440). Hence, it

makes it easier for MNC’s to create relationships with foreign companies and suppliers as

well as markets and consumers. Additionally, technology could also act deterministically in

that, firms that do not adopt such technologies are in fear of being left behind and becoming

obsolete.

Another influencing factor is the liberalization of trade, where ‘trade protection has been

reduced due to the operation of organizations such as the World Trade Organization’ (Hall et

al, 2006: 777). In effect, this liberalization has enabled businesses to freely operate globally.

Likewise, consumer attitudes towards products have become more individualized and

customized to the extent that mass production is not beneficial any more, as consumers look

to identify with brands and construct a personal connection. This as a result, may generate

new markets for MNC’s to enter such as the demand for Asian automobiles in Europe, or US

products in Asia.


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1.3 GLOBALIZATION: ILLUSION OR REALITY?

Many advocates of globalization, as Held (2000), Stiglitz (2002) and Harvey (2007), argue

that ‘we live in a borderless world in which the national is no longer relevant. In such a

world, globalization is the new economic order’ (Dicken, 2011: 5). However, this view has

been considered a myth, and rather its rhetoric has lead pro-globalist Neoliberals to perceive

globalization as ‘an ideological project, one that, it is asserted, will bring the greatest benefit

for the greatest number’ (Ibid). Here, Neoliberals view globalization as ‘the solutions to the

world’s economic problems and inequalities’ (Ibid).

Neoliberal theory argues that the ‘state should favour strong individual private property

rights, the rule of the law, and the institutions of freely functioning markets and free trade’

(Harvey, 2007: 64). Moreover, in their belief that market mechanisms will resolve challenges

within the market, Neoliberals support the argument that ‘the freedom of businesses and

corporations to operate within this institutional framework of free markers and free trade is

regarded as a fundamental good. Private enterprise and entrepreneurial initiative are seen as

the keys to innovation and wealth creation....Continuous increases in productivity should then

deliver higher living standards to everyone ’ (Ibid). Thus, with globalization seemingly

liberalizing markets and lowering protectionist measures, it is the Neoliberalists’ hope that

this process will create a better world for society, perhaps even a utopia. Nevertheless, for

such hopes to be possible, Neoliberals state that ‘sectors formerly run or regulated by the

state must be turned over to the private sphere and be deregulated....Privatization and

deregulations combined with competition, it is claimed, eliminate bureaucratic red tape,

increase efficiency and productivity, improve quality, and reduce costs’ (Harvey, 2007: 65).

Hence, what is witnessed here is that the balance of economic and political power could be

changing as the role of the nation-state may be declining.


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On the other hand however, Sceptics and anti-globalists, such as Hirst (2009), argue that the

Anglo-US conception of globalization and competitiveness ‘fails to appreciate that foreign

direct investors in capital intensive sectors of the international economy are attracted to

locations such as the Northern European economies....for the access they provide to a highly

skilled, reliable, and innovative labour force’ (Harvey, 2007: 65). Moreover, sceptics are

doubtful of the existence of a completely integrated global economy, and rather favour the

term regionalization as they witness supporting evidence which contradicts the arguments of

globalization such as the effectiveness of Asian Developmental nation-states; states that

opted to follow the ideology of globalization in terms of generating a favourable environment

for investment, but maintain a level of control over the market as the state helps to form and

encourage the process of economic development.

Likewise, sceptics seem to believe in regionalization rather than globalization, as Hirst argues

that ‘the world economy is far from being genuinely global. Rather, trade, investment and

financial flows are concentrated in the Triad of Europe, Japan/East Asia and North America,

and this dominance seems set to continue’ (Hirst et al, 2009: 3). Moreover, Hirst developed a

definition of regionalization as ‘a geographically contiguous area composed of the territories

of nation-states that have either combined in an integrative economic or monetary union, or

whose economies have evolved into a closely interdependent entity, or who can empirically

be shown to be advancing along these routes’ (Ibid: 159). In effect, such processes are

reflected through the European Union (EU), the North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA)

and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). It is argued that it is within these

triad blocs that the process of economic integration is occurring, leaving some nations to be

more globalized than others, and thus this would explain the uneven world we live in where

the promises of globalization have not been fulfilled for most.


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Nevertheless, the 2008 financial crash ‘demonstrated, contrary to much sceptical opinion, just

how integrated the world economy had become in the last three decades’ (Ravenhill, 2007:

293). Circumstances such as this crisis may display how one action may have a global

reaction, and how one idea as simple as Christmas for instance, may spread to a global level

in today’s integrated society. Moreover, it is argued that ‘there has been a huge increase in

both intra-industry and intra-firm trade, both of which are clear indicators of more

functionally fragmented and geographically dispersed production processes’ (Dicken, 2011:

7). Hence, the basic argument here for pro-globalists is that ‘globalizing processes are

reflected in, and influenced by, multiple geographies, rather than a single global geography:

the local and the global intermesh, running into one another in all manner of ways’ (Ibid). In

effect, such a statement could possibly be perceived through the element of culture. Having

agreed that today’s society is being integrated at a global level to some extent, reveals a

significant conflict of power and culture between Western influences, global cultural

convergence and local culture and traditions. In other words, perhaps one may perceive a

hybrid between global and local cultures; a hybrid known as glocalization which will be

analyzed further down.

1.4 GLOBALIZATION: THE BATTLE OF CULTURE

With the liberalization of trade and investment, and the promotion of Neoliberalism and free

markets, cultures around the globe have been directly and indirectly affected. As MNC’s

distribute their products at a global level, it can be argued that they are spreading elements of

their culture to overseas markets. This process has been extended through the creation of

brands and media. A brand can be considered ‘a name, term , sign, symbol, design or any


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other feature that allows consumers to identify the goods and services of a business and to

differentiate them from those of competitors’ (Hall et al, 2006: 199). Moreover, through the

development of an image/identity, branding may enable customers to construct a relationship

with the brand, beyond the functional use of the product. As a result, global brands may

influence local culture, but at the same time as consumers establish these relationships they

may also attach local cultural elements to that global brand.

Likewise, through the advancement of media and technology, the power of MNC’s, Western

products and services or products and services with a Western image, as well as media such

as Hollywood movies, series and shows, and the internet, have all been able to reach almost

every nation, and in embodying elements of their local culture, have reflected at a global

level. As a result, many national cultures have been influenced to some extent. Such an

argument would support the statement that ‘globalization constitutes a current manifestation

of the ongoing dynamics of general culture diffusion....In this context, international trade as

an agency of this dynamic serves as an umbilical cord of culture diffusion’ (Brinkman et al,

2002: 732).

In effect, advocates of globalization such as Steger (2005) have perceived globalization ‘as a

multidimensional set of social processes that create, multiply, stretch, and intensify

worldwide social interdependencies and exchanges while at the same time fostering in people

a growing awareness of deepening connections between the local and the distant’ (Steger,

2005: 13). The question that arises here is, whether it is Western influences that are affecting

foreign cultures to the extent that it overpowers the local culture, or is there indeed a balance

of the two? In recent years there has been evidence favouring the path of Western influences

as seen in Thailand where ‘white skin is a crucial market of physical beauty in both urban and

rural Thai aesthetic systems’ (Ellis et al, 2011: 219). In effect, this belief exists in East Asian

as a result of Western (US) beauty being displayed and marketed to them through media as a


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role model to be followed. Moreover, Coca Cola a US soft drink can now be found almost all

over the world as a common beverage. Thus, one may argue that ‘globalization constitutes an

irreversible process, and that Anglo-American norms and values underwrite the culture of the

new world. Americanization is associated with globalization because the USA is the sole

superpower’ (Ardalan, 2009: 518). Thus, as Thompson (2004) states, one could perceive

global brands as Trojan horses where MNC’s colonize local cultures (Thompson, 2004).

On the other hand however, consumers are not passive recipients of brands and media.

Although brands may affect their choices, consumers with increasing knowledge significantly

through the internet, have the power to interpret, accept or decline a brand. More importantly,

as Cova and Dalli (2009) argue, consumers are able to co-create brands and products and

‘increasingly regard brands as shared cultural property rather than as privately owned

intellectual property’ (Cova and Dalli, 2009: 317). At the same time however, MNC’s have

also followed strategies of adapting their global products to local cultures such as

McDonald’s without beef burgers in India and Yahoo which displays local versions of its

search engine in each country. Consequently, these strategies can be characterized by the

term glocalization which refers to ‘the creation of products or services intended for the global

market, but customized to suit the local cultures’ (Khondker, 2004: 4). In effect, perhaps it is

rather a process of glocalization of cultures than a process of globalization and a

homogenization of culture, as Thompson (2004) argues that consumers customize global

brands by attaching and detaching certain meanings and cultural elements, in order to match

with local cultural flows (Thompson, 2004).


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1.5 GLOCALIZATION AND CHRISTMAS

One issue that could depict to an extent the effects of glocalization and potentially Western

influence on culture throughout the world is the creation and celebration of the Christmas

holiday. Thompson (2004) argues that ‘a nostalgic view of community has become a highly

commercialized trope through which consumers are able to forge an ephemeral sense of

interpersonal connection via common consumption interests’ (Thompson, 2004: 639). As a

result, a global celebration of Christmas may offer such connection to people through

consumption of Christmas products and rituals. It is within such a field that one could

perceive how ‘cultural forces from various metropolises which enter new societies tend to

become indigenized in one way or another’ (Ardalan, 2009: 520). In effect, the spread of the

Christmas celebration could be seen as a snowball effect, as the festival attains and drops

cultural and social elements as it moves from country to country adapting accordingly.

Moreover, although of religious background it is supported that Christmas was created for

marketing interests. This perspective was taken seriously by Coca Cola which associated its

drink and brand with a reconstructed Santa Claus and the Christmas holiday, in order to enter

the winter market (Forbes, 2007). Additionally, to one extreme one may argue that ‘images

and ideas, which are more easily and rapidly transmitted worldwide, profoundly impact the

way people experience their everyday lives. Culture is no longer associated with a fixed

locality, but gains new meanings that reflect dominant themes emerging in a global context’

(Forbes, 2007: 525). Perhaps through Christmas and its association to marketing and media,

we could perceive effects glocalization throughout the world.


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In effect, this thesis intends to explore the history and evolution of Christmas, focusing

significantly on rituals, traditions, images, products and marketing of the global festivity.

This thesis will then attempt to investigate characteristics and evidence of glocalization

within Christmas by comparing the Anglo-US version of Christmas with that of the Greek

version. In doing so, this thesis could be able to offer a new perception of the world, through

the lens of glocalizational effects rather than globalization.

1.6 CONCLUSION

In conclusion, this chapter explored the process of globalization, as well as debates over

globalization through the perspectives of champions of globalization and Neoliberalism,

which indicated favouring arguments about the ideologies and beliefs for the present and the

future of globalization. Likewise, through the perspective of anti-globalists and sceptics, the

issue of regionalization surfaced and was seen by sceptics as a better concept to describe the

present condition of the world and its economy. In effect, this analysis turned to the cultural

aspects of globalization. Here, one could envisage a conflict of power between or perhaps if

not a conflict then a mixture of local and global culture. In addition, one could witness a

spread of Western cultural influences throughout the world, which could be met acceptance,

modification or even rejection. It has been suggested that such an issue could be viewed

through the celebration of Christmas, a holiday that has become a global phenomenon even in

nations such as China and Japan where Christianity is not the dominant religion. Through the

celebration of Christmas, one may be able to view how global marketing actions result in

local reactions, as local consumers may either work to shape the festival (in line with their

culture) in order to establish a connection with the local community or even accepting

Western versions of the festival to feel a global connection.


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CHAPTER 2: THE STORY OF CHRISTMAS

2.1 INTRODUCTION

In its global expansion over time, Christmas has moved from country to country, giving as

well as receiving cultural elements, and thus one may perceive a snowball effect of the

festival, a term used by Forbes (2007) to describe the process of gathering widespread

traditions and dropping others as the concept of Christmas travels through various countries

and cultures; perhaps a factor that was always part of Christmas since its birth. Nonetheless,

the meaning, messages and effects of Christmas worldwide, have changed over time and

changed from a presumed religious subject to a subject of family, overconsumption and

commercialization. Perhaps, one may argue that the Christmas celebration, just like

Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and the escapades of the Easter Bunny, has been transformed

into an opportunity for corporations as a global marketing medium within their possible

glocalization strategies.

The following chapter will explore the known history of the Christmas festival from its birth

in Rome, to its global expansion to the USA and Asia. This investigation will present various

cultural artefacts and elements from different cultures, religions and nations, such as the

Christmas tree, feasts and lights, gift-giving and Santa Claus, which influenced and shaped

what we know as Christmas today. Moreover, this chapter will convey the change in the

perception of the Christmas holiday, from a religious reason to a family-centred commercial

celebration, in order to attempt to view evidence of corporate global marketing interests in

Christmas.


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2.2 A SNOWBALL EFFECT

Today when walking through a shopping centre, almost anywhere in the world, during the

mid-winter season, one will notice thousands of Christmas-related products and services with

a Santa Claus in every corner. There is a lively and colourful atmosphere with Christmas

music and many busy people shopping for food, decorations, gifts and other accessories for

the Christmas celebration. However, this time of year was not always like this; there were

times when Christmas was celebrated without a Santa Claus, a Christmas tree and gifts and

even a time when Christmas was not celebrated at all. Hence, in order to understand the

transformation of Christmas into today’s method of celebration and meaning, this chapter

will provide a history background of this festival starting from its creation in ancient Rome.

The essence of the Christmas festival had not been derived by Christianity. Indeed such

celebrations occurred earlier; the reason being for ‘people to have something to look forward

to for the first half of winter, the preparations could be a welcome distraction, and the party

itself would be a blast’ (Forbes, 2007: 4). In such a party, one may expect to observe ‘lights,

pushing back the oppressive darkness....evergreens as symbols or decorations....feasting and

drinking....[and] gathering of people, perhaps the whole village’ (Ibid: 5). As Forbes (2007)

argues thus, such festivals where common in many cultures in Europe before Christianity

even existed.

In effect, as history progressed, Forbes (2007) states that through cultural interaction, certain

elements and traditions of these festivals were transferred from one culture to another

(Forbes, 2007). Moreover, two major examples of such winter festivals that actually

influenced Christmas are the Saturnalia in Ancient Rome, where ‘every December 17 a

sacrifice was offered to Saturn in the Roman Forum, but what mattered most to the general

public was the feasting and partying that followed’ (Ibid: 8). During this festival ‘houses,


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great halls, and streets were decorated with laurel, green trees, and shrubs, illuminated by

candles and lamps....people exchanges small gifts, such as wax candles, wax fruit, and clay

dolls’ (Forbes, 2007: 8). Hence, Forbes (2007) displays how during this festival social norms

and class of Rome were put to the side and replaced with an equal celebration between all

citizens.

Furthermore, the second example of a winter festival is Yule from Northern Europe. Here ‘it

was ancient custom that when sacrifice was made all farmers were to come to the temple and

bring along with them the food they needed while the feast lasted. At this feast all were to

take part in the drinking of ale’ (Ibid: 11). Such a festival thus, provides another instance of

celebration in the form of great feasts, drinking, and a lightened and colourful atmosphere.

Moreover, as Christianity evolved but was not dominant yet in Europe, it was ‘an Easter-

centred religion. The death and resurrection of Jesus were the centre of the early Christian

message’ (Ibid: 17). As Forbes (2007) explains, the reason for Christianity focusing on death

rather than birth was their belief that birthdays represented a pagan celebration (Forbes,

2007). Thus, how and for what reason was Christmas, the celebration of the birth of Jesus,

created by the church, if such beliefs of birthdays existed?

The answer partly lies in two other connected festivities or religions that existed within Rome

during mid-winter; Sol Invictus (Unconquered Sun) and Mithraism. According to Forbes

(2007) these two connected religions were celebrated on December 25 in the same fashion as

other depicted festivals and were followed by army and government officials as well as

members of higher social class (Forbes, 2007). Thus it would seem challenging at that time

for Christianity to dominate and create Christmas. However, everything changed when

Constantine came to power and was ‘the first Roman emperor to embrace Christianity, who

ruled some or all of the empire from 306-337’ (Ibid: 29). In effect, Constantine made


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Christianity legal and promoted it. As a result, the power of this religion and church could

increase.

Obviously though, Sol Invictus and Mithraism posed as competition towards Christianity and

when ‘the teachers of the Church realised that Christians were allowing themselves to take

part in the celebrations of the Day of the Birth of the Unconquered Sun, they decided to

observe the Feast of the true Birth on the same day....therefore, it seems quite clear that the

intention of the Christian Church was to overlay Mithraic rituals and ceremonies with

Christian significance’ (Whiteley, 2008: 18). Hence, as Forbes (2007) argues, Christmas was

created to challenge rival religions, attain further converts and attribute Christian meaning to

winter festivals (Forbes, 2007), and one could perceive this as a glocalization strategy to

attract people to a “global” belief with a “local” method.

Christianity having established Christmas, began to spread throughout the world,

significantly through missionaries, ‘picking up winter customs as it went, incorporating them

into Christmas celebrations and also spreading certain customs from one region to another.

The snowball changes size, shape, and colour as it rolled, not only adding features but also

dropping them, over time and distance’ (Forbes, 2007: 46). One example of this according to

Forbes (2007) is the introduction of the German Christmas tree to the American colonies in

the 1800s which later became one of the symbols of American Christmas (Forbes, 2007).

However, the celebration of Christmas did eventually meet resistance; and the opponents

were the Puritans, who were people that ‘campaigned to eliminate Catholic features that they

believed departed too far from the biblical model, the practices and beliefs of the earliest

Christians’ (Ibid: 55). Hence, Christmas being perceived as one of these Catholic features,

became the target of Puritans in New England (in USA) and in England and as a result, ‘the

Puritan-dominated Parliament in England outlawed seasonal plays in 642, declared Christmas


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a day of penance instead of a feast day in 1644, and on December 24, 1652, proclaimed that

no observance shall be had of the five and twentieth of December, commonly called

Christmas day’ (Forbes, 2007: 57). This caused a conflict between Christmas worshipers and

Puritan supporters throughout England.

On the other hand however, in the American colonies, even though Puritan pressures on

Christmas celebration were occurring, Forbes (2007) explains how other colonists of

Catholic, Anglican, German, Dutch and even Scandinavian origin brought their local

traditional Christmas customs and Christmas was celebrated in a ‘localized fashion’ (Forbes,

2007). Hence, Christmas was observed by some colonists and celebrated in a local manner

while others did not participate. Nevertheless, this festival eventually began to gain

domination as ‘the Christmas revival occurred in the mid-1800s, in both England and the

United States’ (Forbes, 2007: 60). During this period many significant people helped to

revive the Christmas observance such as Charles Dickens for his story “A Christmas Carol”

as he was ‘encouraging the revival or reinvention of Christmas traditions, persuading

businesses to close for the holiday, and promoting acts of kindness and charity as an

appropriate focus’ (Ibid: 62).

Another influential figure was Queen Victoria with her husband Prince Albert in 1837 who

‘contributed to the revival of Christmas in two major ways: importing the German Christmas

tree into English Christmas observances, and modelling Christmas as a family-centred

celebration’ (Ibid: 63). Such figures embraced the Christmas festival with a family oriented

perception as well as a “foreign” feature of the German Christmas tree, and through their

image and public appearances, the English as well as the American population followed.

Therefore, one may argue that both Dickens with his story and Queen Victoria with her

family, successfully attempted to act similarly to what the Christian church had done in

Rome, and reinvent the meaning of the mid-winter festival by (maintaining the name


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Christmas) moving away from the birth of Jesus and Christianity, towards a more charitable,

family-oriented and mixed custom festival. This reinvention of Christmas began to spread at

a global level, but was celebrated with less religious meaning and a more commercial feeling

with both global and local features. Tom Flynn supports this argument depicting ‘surprisingly

how small a role the churches played in the Victorian revival. From its inception

contemporary Christmas was primarily a secular and commercial holiday’ (Flynn, 1993,

105).

2.3 FROM RELIGION TO CONSUMPTION

Having reinvented Christmas significantly in England and then the USA, a major change may

be observed in the essence of the celebration; religious concepts and perceptions of Christmas

began to fade as family-oriented meanings came to dominate. In effect, such meanings could

be transformed into business and marketing opportunities, an issue that would be more

challenging with religion. In other words, ‘everything that was revived or invented –

decorations, cards, crackers, collections of carols, going to a pantomime, visiting Santa Claus

and buying presents – all had one thing in common: they could be sold for profit’ (Whiteley,

2008: 20). Whiteley (2008) here argues that with Christmas another issue being celebrated

was the fruitful benefits of ‘industrial capitalism – conspicuous consumption in a market

economy’ (Ibid). The fading of religious celebrations of Christmas can also be viewed in

Christmas cards which ‘ignored the Nativity and depicted instead evergreens, snowscapes,

children playing, Father Christmas and robin redbreasts’ (Ibid: 21).

With a new theme (family) beginning to dominate Christmas until the present day ‘creative

consumerism has increasingly become the main instrument for achieving one of the most


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often observed attributes of Christmas’ (Miller, 1993: 22). Indeed as Miller (1993) points out,

‘a sixth of all retail sales is brought about by Christmas shopping and related activities’ (Ibid:

61). One major figure that brought about such change was the creation and modification of

Santa Claus instead of Jesus Christ. One may argue that by doing this, the essence and

nativity of Christmas is fading away, however, first one may argue that the very existence of

Christmas is a result of many features and customs from various ethnicities and religions

mixed together and thus there is no single homogenous nativity, and second as Whiteley

(2008) argues:

‘if a nativity was being celebrated [now], it was the birth of a market economy

underpinned by the new power of industrialization. The profoundly

commercial-secular nature of the invention has made possible its incredible

international success. Even an officially atheist society like the People’s

Republic of China has no difficulty in embracing the festival’ (Whiteley, 2008:

22).

As well as a bringer of change, Santa Claus also provides an example of the snowball effect

of Christmas. In brief, having Dutch and Flemish origin, the snowball effect took action

‘adding remnants of the Arab presence in Spain, remnants of Spanish control of the

Netherlands, a flying white horse perhaps derived from the Germanic and Nordic Odin, and

Dutch clogs to receive presents’ (Forbes, 2007: 78). Moreover, having travelled as a blurred

concept to the American colonies, ‘Saint Nicholas in the colony of New Amsterdam was an

invented tradition, attributable to [Washington] Irving and his acquaintances’ (Ibid:83). In

effect, Washington Irving generated attributes for Santa Claus and the poem “Night Before

Christmas” ‘helped create vital parts of the Santa Claus tradition’ (Ibid: 86). However, one of

the most important instrumentalists of the image and commercial vision of Santa Claus was

Haddon Sundblom (1899-1976) a commercial artist who made Coca-Cola and Santa Claus


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identical for the reason that ‘if an association of Coca-Cola with Santa Claus could boost

winter seasonal sales, the company would be that much more successful’ (Ibid: 92).

One could perceive Sundblom’s achievement as a myth-making strategy of marketing that

essentially created an image/symbol of Christmas called Santa Claus, which replaced Jesus,

the church and Christianity, and bonded this image with the Coca-Cola brand and

commercialization and as Whiteley (2008) states ‘it was this image that was most famously

exploited by the Coca-Cola Company from the early 1930s on, in the corporate company

colours of red and white, as part of its campaign to increase winter sales of its soft drink’

(Whiteley, 2008: 57). In effect, Forbes (2007) is tempted to argue that in the place of Jesus

and Christianity, the now dominant character of Santa Claus could be considered ‘a symbolic

villain, seducing shoppers into consumerist excesses, drowning people in bankruptcies and

subverting human values. Indeed, Santa has been manipulated by commercial interests for the

sake of sales and profit’ (Forbes, 2007: 95); and thus in the words of Miller (1993) ‘Santa is

first and foremost a symbol of material abundance and hedonistic pleasure’ (Miller, 1993:

83).

Moreover, Forbes (2007) observed six changes that occurred which transcended Christmas

from a religious invention to a commercial celebration. First, ‘before the nineteenth century,

gifts were not the focus of Christmas observances’ (Forbes, 2007: 112). This is evident as the

main themes in older versions of Christmas focused on feasts and drinking rather than family

and gift-giving. Second, ‘industrialization in the 1700s and 1800s helped lead to the rise of

consumer culture’ (Ibid: 113). This occurred through marketing and the generation of fashion

trends. Third, ‘merchants began to see holidays as an opportunity rather than an obstacle’

(Ibid). Such holidays such as Christmas may create major benefits for corporations as

comprehended by Coca-Cola. Fourth, ‘manufactured, purchased Christmas gifts began to

replace homemade ones in the United States in the late 1800s and early 1900s’ (Ibid: 114).


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Such a factor portrays evidence of a growing, cultivating consumer culture, as personal

creation is replaced with mass consumption. Fifth, ‘commerce had more influence than

Christianity in making Christmas the culturally dominant holiday it is in the United States

today’ (Forbes, 2007: 115). Lastly, ‘voices of resistance and reform accompanied the rise of a

commercialized Christmas throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries’ (Ibid: 116).

Hence, these factors display a transformation or a reinvention of Christmas perhaps in the

favour of commercial interests and consumer culture.

Returning to the snowball effect of Christmas and Santa Claus, one may perceive that the

global commercialization and celebration of Christmas even to non-Christian countries may

be a result of marketing techniques of glocalization. One could still argue in favour of a

globalized homogenous perception, however, accepting this may make it challenging to

perceive the different cultural methods and reasons of celebrating Christmas. In other words,

as Miller (1993) argues that Christmas:

‘demonstrates more securely than any theoretical argument the weaknesses of

approaches which posit global homogenization against local

heterogeneity....the ability of this festival to become potentially the very

epitome of globalization derives from the very same quality of easy syncretism

which makes Christmas in each and every place the triumph of localism, the

protector and legitimation for specific regional and particular customs and

traditions’ (Miller, 1993: 25).

Simply put, Christmas may in fact provide a clear view of a process of glocalization

throughout the world. Such an argument can be conveyed through the example of Christmas

in Japan. Kimura and Belk (2005) argue that ‘Christmas has been adopted in Japan in a big

way, even though less than 1% of Japan is Christian. Although a small number of Christian


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churches in Japan have attempted to preserve religious aspects of the holiday, it is

overwhelmingly a secular celebration with no religious meaning’ (Kimura and Belk, 2005:

325). Moreover, these authors state that the Christmas festival persuades consumers to spend

more freely, and was aided by multinational corporations resulting in an example of Western

cultural imperialism (Kimura and Belk, 2005).

This may be true is one respect, however, Japanese people although accepting a global

festival, they seem to celebrate it in a local fashion distinct from Western ways of

observance. This can been seen from ‘a long-standing tradition of fancy and expensive

Christmas cakes....a giant Christmas tree in the Japan Rail Kyoto train station decorated with

the Japanese superhero Astro Boy. Christmas cards in Japan that feature kawaii (cute)

Japanese cartoon characters....[and] the phenomenon of young couples exchanging expensive

Christmas gifts and staying in an expensive hotel’ (Ibid: 326). Hence, it can be argued that

Japan accepted global/Western concepts of Christmas, added Japanese features but

simultaneously maintaining this festival as foreign, as Kimura and Belk (2005) state:

‘Partitioning of Christmas in time and space, helps keep it something that can

be regarded as gaijin or foreign. The hybrid adaptations like the Astro Boy

Christmas tree star, Christmas weddings, and kawaii Christmas cards have

not done away with Western Christmas iconography nor have they made

Christmas in Japan uniquely Japanese’ (Ibid: 327).

Therefore, one may begin to understand that having transcended from a religious concept of

Christmas to a commercial celebration and the creation of Santa Claus, gave the festival a

more attractive image to be accepted globally even by non-Christians, and thus Christmas

was able to spread throughout the world with a global image but with a local fashion and

adaptation. As a result, Christmas offers a good example of glocalization in the world.


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2.4 CONCLUSION

In conclusion, this chapter has explored the historic background of the celebration of

Christmas. In this research it was observed that Christmas was an invention of Christianity to

spread its beliefs of Christianity while maintaining local features of pre-Christian religions

and incorporating further foreign features of other cultures it met. As history progressed

Christmas spread throughout the world and met resistance with the Puritans in England who

suppressed this festival. Moreover, Christmas was revived significantly with figures such as

Charles Dickens and Queen Victoria with Prince Albert. In effect, gaining popularity,

corporations began to perceive benefits in the acceptance of Christmas and hence,

commercialization was introduced, with Santa Claus as its symbol, to promote Christmas and

its perfect image through consumption, helping to create a consumer culture.

Furthermore, evidence was provided portraying six factors that lead to the commercialization

of Christmas. Serving through a commercialized conception, the global image Christmas,

perhaps Western-oriented, was able to be more attractive and acceptable by cultures

worldwide such as China and Japan, however, the snowball effect was still active, and in

effect local attributes and customs are added to relate this global festival to a local host. As a

result, such a process may offer evidence that in today’s world perhaps it is a process of

glocalization that is occurring rather than globalization as cultures engage to exchange

customs and creations with one another.


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CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

3.1 INTRODUCTION

In the following chapter the aim and research question of this research paper will be

presented and explained. This chapter will then depict the reasons for specifically choosing

Greece as the location of the study. Moreover, two major philosophical approaches will be

shown and contrasted in terms of the ontological and epistemological assumptions of

interpretivism and positivism. Following the display of the reasons for choosing to adopt one

of these philosophical approaches, we will turn to the research design where an explanation

and description, as well as limitations, will be provided of the chosen methods of textual data

analysis and semi-structured interviews. In addition, the actual data gathered and the

prerequisites need of the interviewees to be included in the research will be provided. In

effect, limitations will also be given to further understand the discussion and analysis of this

research.

3.2 AIM AND OBJECTIVES

It is the aim of this dissertation is to address the research question to what extent are we

witnessing a, process of cultural globalization, or one of glocalization at least in some part of

our ‘global’ lives - and whether this may influence and be of importance to a marketing

perception of the world.


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In order to address this question, this dissertation takes as a case study the observance and

analysis of the celebration of Christmas. In effect, by exploring the creation, history and how

it has evolved and expanded globally and comparing that information with data gathered

from, in this instance, the country of Greece, one may be able to view any differences and

similarities between global features of Christmas and local preserved traditions that are

located in a country; in this case being Greece (the reason for choosing Greece will be shown

further on in this chapter). As a result of this study, one may be able to then view future

trends, ideas or challenges for the marketing perspective; a perspective that has and could still

becoming a very crucial component in the world today.

3.3 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GREECE AND THIS STUDY

In order to understand the reason for choosing to view the Christmas celebration in Greece, it

may be helpful to briefly view the association of Christmas and Christianity to ancient

Greece. Here, Forbes (2007) manages to depict such history:

‘Jesus, and the religion of Christianity, were born into the Roman Empire, a

vast realm that extended around the Mediterranean Sea. This empire had an

important cultural division within it, generally summarized as Greek and

Latin....the Greek portion of the empire was the eastern side of the

Mediterranean, extending from Egypt through Palestine up to what we now

call Syria, Turkey and Greece. The western side, using Latin as a common

language, encompassed both northern Africa and southern Europe, including

Italy’ (Forbes, 2007: 21).


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In effect, with such division came differences in cultural and religious beliefs. As Forbes

(2007) mentions, this division generated a separation of the Christian church into the eastern

orthodox Christians and the western Catholic and Protestant Christians (Forbes, 2007). As

discussed in earlier chapters, the western Catholic Church was responsible for creating

Christmas while eastern Orthodox Churches focused more on Easter and Epiphany. As time

passed however, both churches began to celebrate all those holidays together. Nevertheless,

the importance of each holiday is different for each church. Hence, Greece being a part of the

Orthodox Christians and a major one at that, deemed Easter for example, more important than

Christmas. Therefore, unlike Japan or China, it is interesting to analyze a Christian country

with significant Christian influence, but which even to this day may celebrate Easter to a

much larger extent than Christmas. Nonetheless, it is more interesting to view Greek

traditions and norms of the Christmas celebration and whether they have been preserved

today in the face of Anglo-US influences.

3.4 PHILOSOPHICAL APPROACHES WITHIN

MANAGEMENT RESEARCH METHODS

In the field of research methods, different perceptions of the nature of reality or in other

words; ontology, as well as ‘what constitutes acceptable knowledge in a field of study’

(Saunders, 2009: 112) or; epistemology, have come to create different philosophical

approaches within research methods. Moreover, amongst traditional management research,

two approaches have been emphasized; that of positivism and that of interpretivism.

From the positivist perspective, researchers ‘tend to take a realist position and assume that a

single, objective reality exists independently of what individuals perceive’ (Anderson et al,


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1988: 509). In effect, researchers in this context assume ‘the role of an objective analyst,

coolly making detached interpretations about those data that have been collected in an

apparently value-free manner’ (Saunders et al, 2000: 85). In effect, the ontological

assumptions here, is that reality is separated from the researcher, presenting a sense of

objectivity with not interaction between the researcher and the reality in which he/she is

investigating. This brings us to the epistemological assumption of positivism, that since one

is separate from, and cannot affect the stable structure of reality, ‘precise, accurate

measurements and observations of this world are possible’ (Anderson et al, 1988: 509), thus

generating relative, significant knowledge. This is seen in situations such as detailed

experiments held within laboratories, where elements from the natural world are extracted

and placed within a laboratory for control and experimentation. Moreover, such scientific

science based methods imply a ‘generalizing approach to research; that is, they seek out

general, abstract laws that ideally can be applied to an infinitely large number of phenomena,

people, settings, and times’ (Ibid: 511).

Furthermore, such an approach usually demands the use of quantitative methods of large data

collection. Positivists believe that ‘the research design is the fixed structure of the research,

and adherence to this structure allows for accurate answers’ (Anderson et al, 1988: 512). This

usually entails that ‘when you do research, the best way of arriving at the truth is to use

scientific method, which is otherwise known as the hypothetico-deductive method’

(Jankowicz, 2005: 111) as seen in the example of the laboratory. In addition, researchers here

develop a hypothesis based upon given credible theories, from which experiments,

observation and measurement of extracted data will prove or disprove the hypothesis, and this

will be used in the construction of new theories (Ibid: 111). Hence, it is deemed necessary to

be objective and to have large quantifiable data in order to produce justifiable generalized

knowledge.


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On the other hand, from the perspective of interpretivism, researchers argue that ‘the social

world of business and management is far too complex to lend itself to theorizing by definite

laws in the same way as the physical sciences’ (Saunders et al, 2009: 116). Interpretivists in

dealing mostly with intangible elements of the social sphere, tend to perceive reality in a less

structured and separated way than positivists. Moreover, the ontological assumption here, is

that of subjectivism, implying that ‘social phenomena are created from the perceptions and

consequent actions of those social actors concerned with their existence’ (Saunders et al,

2009: 110). Hence, reality here is converged with the researcher, in which both sides

influence each other, where the researcher attempts to interpret his/her surroundings in order

to make sense and construct meaning and act accordingly. In effect, this implies that different

people will have different perceptions of reality and thus, different meanings and actions. As

a result, a one definitive truth to be found out there, seems to fade, as researchers here try to

‘focus instead on a socially agreed understanding’ (Jankowicz, 2005: 116). In addition, one

can understand that the significant difference between positivism and interpretivism, is that

interpretivism believes that ‘the human world is never a world in itself; it is always an

experienced world, that is, a world that is always related to a conscious subject’ (Sandberg,

2005: 43).

Hence, the interpretivist approach tends to use more qualitative methods of research.

Researchers here ‘study a specific phenomenon in a particular place and time. Rather than

seeking to determine law-like regularities, the interpretivists seek to determine motives,

meanings, reasons, and other subjective experiences that are time- and context-bound’

(Anderson et al, 1988: 511). Moreover, since there is an appreciation of the different

perceptions of reality and its interaction with people, it becomes challenging to generalize. In

effect, research is conducted in natural surroundings where ‘the research is actually an

emergent process. As perceived realities change, the research design adapts’ (Ibid: 513). As a


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result, data collection techniques such as ethnography, or more specifically, participant

observation and semi- and unstructured interviews are used. This occurs as the observation

and interaction between the researcher and the examined surroundings and informants is part

of the process of developing an understanding of the reality that the research is concerned

with, since there is the ability to relate to perceptions and feelings of the people under

examination.

3.5 ADOPTING A PHILOSOPHICAL APPROACH

Because of the social elements inherent in the matter at hand, this research adopts an

interpretivist approach. In a complex environment, entailing substantial social and cultural

elements such as that of the celebration of Christmas, it is challenging to adopt a positivist

approach which perceives this social reality as separated from the researcher; that is to say

that these surroundings are too complex to view objectively. Moreover, ‘the positivist

approach works in the physical sciences because the phenomena it investigates can be

understood and predicted accurately enough by believing that there are events out there, that

the status of the date is unarguable, that truth exists independently of the people who seek

it....unfortunately, this doesn’t work as well with organizational phenomena’ (Jankowicz,

2005: 115). This is so because organizational phenomena incorporate various beliefs,

meanings, cultures, feelings and perceptions of reality which a positivist deductive study

using quantifiable data will fail to acknowledge and understand, since there is no one ultimate

truth.

This argument can be associated with the Christmas holiday; a celebration, a social event

that occurs based on cultural, social and religious features and traditions that shape and guide


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the festival. However, these features are not the same in every location and changed over

time. Hence, one may understand that there is no objective truth of Christmas and its

celebration as well as its impact and interaction between different people. This argument can

also be related to the process of globalization and glocalization. Both processes may represent

subjective concepts that are formed and demonstrated through cultural, social and economic

factors that differ by location and change by time. Although there may be certain foundations

of the issue of Christmas and globalization/glocalization, they are not permanent or constant.

As observed through the creation and history of Christmas as well as debates between the

assumption of globalization and that of glocalization, there is regular change that occurs as

Forbes’s (2007) snowball effect depicts. Thus, the dynamic socio-cultural environment that

surrounds this intended research can be better understood and acknowledged through an

interpretivist approach.

Furthermore, as opposed to positivism, interpretivism understands that ‘if the social reality is

based in individuals’ or groups’ perceptions, then in order to be able to understand those

perceptions, these individuals must be involved in creating the research process’ (Anderson et

al, 1988: 512). Hence, in the context of celebrating Christmas, the people that this research is

conducted on are viewed more as associates and informants through an interpretivist

approach as opposed to subjects and patients in positivist perceptions. This can be supported

by the fact that ‘positivists assume a secure observational base from which objective

observations can be made, but observations are value-laden, theory-laden, and

interpreted....Positivists try to conceive of the objective features of society apart from their

social context and the perceptions of people.’ (Ibid: 516). This could be challenging when

attempting to understand the way Greeks celebrate Christmas without the ability to socially

interact and gain knowledge from the people that experience this celebration at first hand and


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as a result one could perceive the Christmas holiday in Greece in a different way from the

perceptions of Greeks and the people actually experiencing it.

In other words, when quantifying such social data, one is unable to view the social

interactions, feelings, expressions and atmospheres surrounding the celebration Christmas. In

effect, it is an ongoing process of interacting and observing the field of study, in which the

researcher, through an interpretive approach, will be able to view and feel the social

dynamics involved in the research; something that a positivist approach may fail to

acknowledge. To understand this further, one could imagine himself as a movie critic or

reporter, who has to write a review of a movie. It is more effective to actually attend the

cinema and feel the atmosphere and effect of that movie to other viewers, rather than view it

in a screening room alone or even in textual form (screenplay and script).

3.6 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND DESIGN

In this research secondary data which includes electronic textual data from the internet,

significantly magazines concerning Christmas in Greece will be used in order to gain

background knowledge of the way Christmas is celebrated in Greece and its importance in

that country. These written documentary materials offer advantages such as fewer resource

requirements, unobtrusive, but more importantly they may be able to provide comparative

and contextual data (Saunders et al, 2009). This means that the information obtained from

these online sources could be compared with primary data that will be collected in the form

of semi-structured interviews, in order to confirm or deny to an extent the knowledge to be

used in this research. Additionally, as a result, unforeseen discoveries as Saunders et al

(2009) may come up both from gathering secondary data and by comparing secondary with


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primary information, which may contribute to the formulation of the argument of this

research. For example, textual data may provide a Greek feature of Christmas which could

afterwards, through a semi-structured interview, be confirmed as a feature not used any more

in Greece. One limitation here however, is the quality and reliability of textual electronic data

as it cannot be completely verified as truthful fact and some data could be opinions of

authors.

In addition, semi-structured interviews will be used for data collection in order to ‘help

clarify and organize an individual’s perception of reality’ (Fetterman, 1989, p. 50), which

will occur after gathering the textual data. Moreover, in semi-structured interviews ‘the

researcher will have a list of themes and questions to be covered, although these may vary

from interview to interview’ (Saunders et al, 2009: 328). Additionally, interviews here are

more free flowing; allowing the person being interviewed to extend the conversation beyond

simple questions. The interviewee may correct or reveal other information that would not be

uncovered through simple yes or no questions for instance. Hence, the interviewee may offer

the researcher past experiences with stories and effects of Christmas in Greece, and personal

and group reactions and opinions of Christmas and its effects that may not be clearly stated

through formalized structured interviews.

However, in conducting semi-structured interviews one must take into account forms of bias.

For instance, ‘the comments, tone or non-verbal behaviour of the interviewer creates bias in

the way that the interviewees respond to the questions being asked’ (Saunders et al, 2009:

326). In effect, this may create an unstable, stressful environment in which the interviewee

may reaction in unnatural ways and provide false or distorted information. Moreover, ‘ the

time consuming requirements of the interview process may result in a reduction in

willingness to take part on behalf of some of those to whom you would like to talk’ (Ibid).


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Hence, interviewees may feel uneasy in talking to an “outsider” and may provide limited

information.

3.7 STRUCTURE AND EXECUTION OF SEMI-

STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS

For the purpose of this study, 7 people were selected to participate in individual semi-

structured interviews. The interviewees where asked five questions as follows:

1. How important do you think the Christmas holiday is in Greece (and why?)

2. How do most people celebrate Christmas in Greece today (i.e. what do they do)?

3. Do you think the way Christmas in Greece is celebrated, both in the home and in the

towns and villages (?) has changed much over the last x number of years?

4. What, if anything do you think makes the celebration of Christmas in Greece different

from other parts of the world – especially countries such as America or the UK?

5. Do you think Western commercialization and promotion of Christmas has replaced OR

influenced Greek Christmas celebrations?

These questions were considered as a base to instigate a conversation surrounding Christmas

in Greece in the past and present moment. In effect, interviewees were not limited to only

these five questions and were also asked various follow-up questions based on the discussion

(certain interviewees were asked one of the questions and follow-up questions were used

until the end).

Along with anonymity and discretion, two prerequisites were formed; that the interviewee

should be of Greek origin as the questions deal with Christmas in Greece, and the interviewee

should preferably be an age that would enable them to share knowledge of Christmas in

Greece at least thirty to forty years ago.


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In terms of ethical considerations, every interviewee was asked if they accepted to contribute

to this research through an interview and were briefed of its purpose and ensured of its

preservation of anonymity and confidentiality of their identity.

Lastly, limitations concerning these interviews did surface; among them being the fact that a

small sample of Greek citizens was selected. In effect, this may not fully represent the

perceptions and beliefs of all Greeks as well as the fact that in other countries there may be

different perceptions and opinions. On the other hand however, this may help support the

argument of glocalization since it proposes that in every country there will be various local

traditions and opinions.


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CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS

4.1 INTRODUCTION

The following chapter will begin by investigating gathered primary textual data from various

internet sources that reveal characteristics, traditions and aspects of Christmas in Greece. This

analysis will be able to portray to an extent, evidence that will either support the argument

that through Christmas glocalization seems to be occurring, or challenge this argument by

displaying evidence that perhaps Western concepts and customs of Christmas have colonized

local traditions and thus, globalization could be the occurring process.

However, this form of data is ‘limited’ in what it might tell us. Thus, the second part of this

chapter will explore further confirmation through the use of semi-structured interviews, with

questions designed to engage the interviewee with discussions about Christmas in Greece

including descriptions of any Greek traditions, customs and perceptions of Christmas and

whether such factors have been preserved or replaced in the presence of global (Western)

concepts of Christmas. Hence, these interviews may be able to provide further evidence of

the process of glocalization in today’s world through the investigation of the celebration of

Christmas. Once again however, these interviews represent a small sample limited by various

factors such as geography, age and national origin.


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4.2 TEXTUAL DATA ANALYSIS

By examining present textual data, one may be able to perceive such tendencies in Greece.

For instance, an article on Greek Christmas traditions argues that ‘even though Greek

Christmas is regarded by many as less colourful than the Greek Easter, the Greeks really have

some of the richest Christmas traditions in the world’ (ypseni.wordpress.com, 2009). Another

article supports this argument by stating that ‘Greeks have, not unreasonably, considered

Christ’s death and sacrifice as being more central to the message of the Christian gospel than

Christmas, and therefore have traditionally focused on Easter instead – although this isn’t to

say that Greece doesn’t have its own distinctive Christmas traditions’

(RobertsonLanguages.co.uk, 2011).

Hence, one may begin to understand two important factors. Firstly, although Greeks have

traditions during Christmas, Easter seems, as previously noted, to be celebrated to a greater

extent. This brings us to the second factor, that although it has declined in recent time mostly

amongst the youth, Christian orthodoxy has played a major role in Greek life. In effect, this

has generated many customs and traditions associated with Christianity that encompass and

preserve holidays in Greece such as Easter and Christmas. Thus, one could assume that

foreign influences, especially commercial influences on Christmas would not effectively

replace Greek approaches to the celebration of the season.

Once again through textual data we will now be able to view certain Greek traditions during

Christmas, as well as global features of Christmas for the purpose of depicting a process of

glocalization in Greece in terms of Christmas. Firstly, as one source presents ‘many of the

traditions of eons ago continue to exist unchanged, so Christmas in Greece maintains its

originality and many of the customs’ (explorecrete.com, 2012). Hence, one major Greek

tradition that has been preserved is the Nativity Fast which starts from November 15 and ends


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in Christmas Eve. Moreover, according to the ChristmasMagazine.com committing to fast

‘means abstaining from meat, eggs and dairy products as well as oil in a strict fast’

(ChristmasMagazine.com, 2012). In effect, WhyChristmas.com depicts how important

Midnight Mass Service before Christmas day is a significant practice during Christmas in

order to end the fast afterwards (WhyChristmas.com, 2012). This is an important tradition to

keep in mind since we are able to witness how the church still plays a significant role during

Christmas in Greece and the fact that this process continues today may indicate how a large

number of Greeks could perhaps be maintaining the religious aspect of Christmas over more

commercialized features.

Another maintained custom during Christmas in Greece is the ‘Christopsomo’ (IMAGE 1) or

Christ bread which ‘has a cross and symbols of the family’s occupation, on the top. The bread

and the dinner table must be blessed’ (ilearngreek.com, 2012). Additionally, the ‘kalada’ or

Christmas carols represent another maintained tradition, where ‘at dawn on Christmas Eve,

the children in groups go from door to door to sing the kalada’ (Ibid). Lastly, one more

custom during Christmas, but which some of its aspects have diminished recently, is

‘ayiasmos’ or blessing. As ChristmasMagazine.com states ‘throughout the “dodekaimera” or

Twelve days of Christmas it is of interest to note that all houses are vulnerable to a malicious

type of elf/pixy called the “kallikantzaroi” (IMAGE 2) who play tricks on housewives, put

out the fire and urinate on the Christmas food if it is not covered at night’

(ChristmasMagazine.com, 2012). Thus, in order to be protected from these kallikantzaroi, on

the Eve of the Epiphany a priest will sprinkle holy water on the houses as he passes by to

expel the evil doers, and this is called ‘ayiasmos’ (ChristmasMagazine.com, 2012). These

three Greek traditions may display the significance of family (home) and religion (church)

during the Christmas holidays, a feature that is declining in other parts of the world.


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IMAGE 1 IMAGE 2

However, as Explorecrete.com states ‘Christmas in Greece, or “the holidays”, are not what

they were 40 years ago. Over the years we notice a universal culture developing as the

western European customs spread more and more change’ (Explorecrete.com, 2012). This is

further supported through the article of in2greece.com which explains that ‘the past few

years, by following western fashion, more and more Greek houses are decorated with

Christmas lights, reindeer, slays, and Santa Claus figures that sing Christmas carols’

(in2greece.com, 2008). Furthermore, this article also states that apart from houses, retail

outlets are now following the trend of Western Europe and begin to sell Christmas products

in early November’ (Ibid).

In effect, we may begin to observe the glocalization or even globalization effect, as globally

followed concepts of Christmas begin to enter and influence different countries. However,

one major key factor that guides one to follow the notion of glocalization is the fact that

today in Greece for instance, these global concepts have not replaced but instead attached and

co-exist with certain local customs and concepts and thus creates a mixture of traditions

similar to a glocalization process. Additionally, one example that may have played a role in

preserving certain Greek customs is the ‘determination from certain quarters in Greece to

resist “imported” Christmas traditions. Since 1999, Thessaloniki – Greece’s second-largest

city – has been erecting a giant illuminated ship in December as a nod of the importance of

the sea in Greece’s culture and history’ (Robertsonlanguages.co.uk, 2011) (IMAGE 3).


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IMAGE 3

4.3 SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEW ANALYSIS

As noted in the methodology, 7 random people were chosen for a semi-structured interview

in order to obtain primary first-hand data concerning Christmas in Greece. Two preconditions

were constructed; the first being the requirement of the interviewee to be of Greek origin and

the second favouring older age people to be chosen in order for effective knowledge of

Christmas in the past in Greece. Gender did not play a significant role although it was found

that female interviewees had more knowledge to share in terms of family and house customs,

shopping and preparations during Christmas, whereas male interviewees had more to say

about the commercial transformation of Christmas in Greece. Within these interviews three

themes were identified as they overlapped each other; food, religion, and family. These three

themes will be revealed below. Additionally, one factor that influenced interviewee answers

and perceptions was the location that they lived or celebrated Christmas at. (FIGURE 1)


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From the people interviewed, four were from/or celebrated Christmas in major cities such as

Athens and Thessaloniki (interviewees A), one was from/or celebrated Christmas in a

provincial town (interviewee B), and two were from/or celebrated Christmas in villages

(interviewees C). This categorization is interesting as it was found that within the selected

sample of people, people located further away from major cities, depicted Christmas in

Greece in the past and present as original and separate from other countries as they celebrated

many Greek customs and managed to preserve quite a few with only gift-giving, colourful

lights, and in one case Santa Claus. Such an observation was formed based on discussions

such as with one interviewee (C) from a village stating that

‘We always considered Christmas a religious celebration; we would fast for

40 days and attend midnight mass on Christmas Eve. On Christmas day we

would spend the day with family and relatives and end the night at a village

feast.’

This interviewee gave the impression that in that village Christmas may have been affected to

a lesser extent by global commercial aspects of Christmas. As a result, Greek traditions and

40% 10%

20%

FIGURE 1 LOCATION

Major Cities (Athens, Thessaloniki) Provincial Towns Villages


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customs of Christmas may have been more dominant and maintained over western concepts,

as another interviewee (C) indicated that

‘Although commercial aspects of Christmas like in Athens, are known in our

village, we tend to adopt just one or two features to satisfy the children; that is

why we buy them presents and tell them the story of Santa Claus, but we also

tell them the Greek version.’

In discussing the issue of Santa Claus and its Greek version, one may understand the link it

has with boats being decorated instead of Christmas trees, and why this concept has not

entirely been replaced by western influences. In asking interviewees about any changes in

Christmas features in Greece over the past 30 to 40 years, one interviewee (A) answered

‘in Greek tradition, Saint Nicholas was a protector of ships and sailors, and

sailors believed that caring an icon of Saint Nicholas on board will guide

them safely to their destination. Nowadays though the youth especially, know

the western Santa Claus and prefer him’.

For this reason Greeks used to decorate small or even large boats with lights associating it to

Saint Nicholas and the culture of Greece that always incorporated the sea from ancient time.

It is important to note that even though the awareness and appreciation of Saint Nicholas

during Christmas may be of less importance nowadays, the decorating of a boat still occurs in

many parts of Greece to this day. Thus, one may argue that according to trend and preference

certain local and global concepts of Christmas are adopted and kept and some are replaced

and resisted, resulting in a mixture of local and global features.


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In discussing Greek features of Christmas that still exist today and are uniquely different

from other countries, one key feature is the food and the feast on Christmas day which

interlinks with the theme of family. As one interviewee (A) stated

‘on Christmas day we usually gather with family and many relatives around a large

table with many traditional home cooked dishes and sweets such as yiaprakia,

Christmas hog(pork), melomakarona (IMAGE 4) and kourabiedes (IMAGE 5), which

are prepared days before’.

IMAGE 4 IMAGE 5

One may observe that Greek culture surrounding food which is well-known around Europe

has influenced not only what Greeks eat during Christmas, but also the way they eat. In other

words, a Christmas feast in Greece may include family and relatives of fifteen to twenty

people spending effort in making traditional dishes, and spending hours eating and

conversing with each other. Whereas a more western way of eating on Christmas day is more

limited in the number of family members and number of dishes and time spent over it; as one

interviewee (B) said

‘on Christmas day we have a feast like those feasts in ancient Greece

celebrating the God Dionysus’

Something that may have faded in other countries.


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Another difference in celebrating Christmas from other countries is the way in which

Christmas was spent with family and friends. One interviewee (A) described

‘We wake up early in the morning and around 6.30-7am we arrive at church

for service. Then we return home and prepare the table and house for

Christmas lunch while the kids are out from the morning going to houses to

sing Christmas carols. We spend the rest of the day at home with family and

relatives unless we decide sometimes to go to Sintagma Square to see the

large Christmas tree and walk along the coffee shops and stores’.

Firstly, it is of great interest that certain interviewees did not mention gift-giving on

Christmas day unless I asked them directly. Secondly, Christmas day here seems to be

centred on religion, food/feast and family/relatives and less on commercial or western aspects

such as presents, Christmas parades, house Christmas decoration, and Santa Claus. However,

this does not mean that these western concepts are eradicated from Greek culture.

The question that raised much conversation as well as emotions was that of changes that have

occurred to the celebration of Christmas in Greece. Firstly, one interviewee (A) indicated that

‘There was no such thing as Christmas Eve celebration. People would only

gather at church for midnight mass and then return home. Nowadays however,

after church for instance, people book a table at a restaurant or even a hotel

for late dinner’

Another interviewee (C) felt irritated and expressed that

‘in the past almost everyone would fast for 40 days which would end on

Christmas Eve where we would end the night by reading Greek Christmas

stories to the children especially the stories of Alexi Papadiamandi. Today


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however, all I see are Christmas parties at clubs, hotels and bouzoukia

(traditional Greek music)’.

Such a change may have been triggered from the influence of western Christmas concepts

depicted especially on Hollywood movies. However, these changes were not considered

negative to all Greeks, as one interviewee (A) stated that

‘yes today most Greeks have adopted Santa Claus, giving presents, famous

Christmas songs and the Christmas tree, because it makes us feel more

connected to the world but at the same time we keep our pride to be Greek by

not overdoing it’.

This last sentence may be better understood when connected to a comment from another

interviewee (A) concerning the Christmas tree, indicating that

‘we do put up a Christmas tree a few days before Christmas days and

decorate it with photographs of the family, cotton wool for snow, and acorns

rapped in colourful shiny paper.’

One may thus view that perhaps local and global features are mixed in a certain way that

provides a balance between the global connection of people and their local identity.

Therefore, these interviews could support the given textual data in the argument that through

Christmas in Greece we are able to observe a process of glocalization that could be evident in

other parts of life as well.

However, one limitation should be noted; that since Easter is considered more important and

is celebrated more than Christmas in Greece, information provided on Christmas was not as

much as one would find in other countries such as the USA.


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4.4 CONCLUSION

In conclusion, this chapter explored various textual data in terms of online magazines and

sources, in order to depict Christmas traditions and features that occur in Greece in contrast to

other more western Anglo-US trends, and to observe how these Greek features (although

some have been replaced) have come to co-exist and mix with the global more Anglo-US

features. In effect, it was argued that through this observation, the process of glocalization

could be seen as neither did western Christmas features spread throughout Greece (to all

villages) and replace local ones, nor did all Greek traditions manage to prevail over time and

“imported” Christmas customs.

Moreover, to support this argument, semi-structured interviews in the form of five flexible

and circumstantial questions, where seven interviewees were selected at random with the

prerequisites that they are of Greek origin and preferable of older age in order to provide the

correct information needed for the interviews to be effective. Thus, once these interviews

were conducted, information was obtained that depicted the lives of common Greek citizens

during Christmas holidays both in the past and present. Through this information, differences

and similarities of Greek celebrations towards western trends were presented that portrayed

an image resembling the Christmas feasts in ancient Rome before Christianity transformed it,

however, the difference being that this image also contained a more religious aspect with the

Greek orthodox church playing a major role. On the other hand, these interviews also

depicted how some western features were adopted by Greeks in order to feel more connected

with the world and more importantly for the pleasure of their children and the youth in

general.

This point is important as it reveals that to some extent a process of globalization may be

visible in the sense that the youth of Greece could be transforming the country to follow more


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globalized trends in the future. Nevertheless, in current circumstances we are able to

positively observe a process of glocalization as some western customs and features of

Christmas are accepted and mixed with local Greek traditions, and thus although western

features are used, they are celebrated in a recognisably Greek way.


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CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

5.1 TRENDS OF GLOBALIZATION

Many writers such as Held (2000), Stiglitz (2002) and Harvey (2007), continue to support the

argument that in today’s world a process of globalization is increasingly taking place and

according to some it is an inevitable consequence. National economies seem to be converging

worldwide, international trade is operating freely and major Multinational Corporations

(MNC’s) have become increasingly more powerful than nation-states and could represent the

new decision-makers of the world, replacing perhaps to some extent the power of

governments. Consequently, the pro-globalists argue that,

‘The rising “tide” of globalization will “lift all boats”; human material

wellbeing will be enhanced. Although the neo-liberal pro-globalizers

recognize that such a state of perfection hasn’t yet been achieved, the major

problem, in their view, is that there is too little, rather than too much,

globalization. Globalization is the solution to the world’s economic problems

and inequalities’ (Dicken, 2007:6)

On the other hand however, there are sceptics such as Hirst (2009) who questions such

arguments and ideologies, and presented certain factors that contradict to an extent the

arguments of pro-globalists. First, Hirst (2009) argues that ‘genuinely transnational

companies appear to be relatively rare. Most companies are based nationally and trade

regionally or multinationally on the strength of a major national location of assets, production

and sales, and there seems to be no major tendency towards the growth of truly global


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companies’ (Hirst, 2009: 3). Thus, although we are aware of major brands and MNC’s such

as NIKE, Coca-Cola, Apple and Starbucks, there majority of companies worldwide seem to

“stay local” according to Hirst (2009). Second, capital mobility has only recently begun

shifting investment and employment from the advanced to the developing countries, and here

it is just a very few of the emerging economies that are benefiting. Foreign Direct Investment

(FDI) is still highly concentrated among the advanced industrial economies, and the Third

World remains marginal in both investment and trade’ (Ibid). Hence, this concept of

globalization and its perceived benefits are only spreading to certain countries and not to an

entirely global extent at this time. Third, Hirst (2009) states that ‘as some of the extreme

advocates of globalization recognize, the world economy is far from being genuinely global.

Rather trade, investment and financial flows are concentrated in the Triad of Europe,

japan/East Asia and North America, and this dominance seems set to continue’ (Ibid).

Nevertheless, keeping in mind Hirst’s arguments for later on in this chapter, if the process of

globalization would become a global reality in the future to come, then from a marketing

perspective, marketing concepts and operations could become similar to mass production and

standardization. Levitt (1983) stated that ‘if different cultures that previously required

markedly diverse products are steadily growing together – homogenising – then organizations

could benefit by producing a restricted range of products and services, actively promoting

these in much the same way across the globe’ (Ellis et al, 2011: 224). However, these

arguments are not of crucial importance for this research. One important thought to consider

would be the possibility and importance, from a marketing perspective, that a process of

glocalization is occurring and may continue to operate in the future.


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5.2 CHRISTMAS AND GLOCALIZATION

In the context of this dissertation, Christmas may represent more than a religious, family, or

commercial celebration. In effect, Whiteley (2008) states ‘the fixing of the Nativity by the

Roman state was as much a political act as a theological one’ (Whiteley, 2008:18). Moreover,

as Christmas was reinvented significantly with the industrial revolution, Whiteley (2008)

argues that ‘Christmas was invented first and foremost as a commercial event. Everything

that was revived or invented – decorations, cards, crackers, collections of carols, going to a

pantomime, visiting Santa Claus and buying presents – all had one thing in common: they

could be sold for profit’ (Ibid: 20). Therefore, the celebration of Christmas especially its

revived, expanded commercial version offers an interesting insight of the concept of

glocalization and its reality in today’s world.

Christmas under the pretext of a religious celebration, perhaps one might say through a

process of consumption, has, to a great extent, expanded from Western culture to most

countries in the world. In effect, most of these countries have indeed accepted and adopted

this celebration. As a result, the question arises; is this a choice people make? Or are they

influenced and persuaded to do so? The debate that occurs here is that of the sovereign

rational consumer and the irrational perspective. From the perspective of the marketing

concept, it is its belief in ‘the right of consumers to be free to choose from a selection of

options of what they buy, from where and from whom’ (Ellis et al, 2011: 67). Thus, almost

the entire concept of economies and markets are based on the notion that consumers are

rational actors and will practically calculate their choices in order to reach a decision. Hence,

it is the consumers’ choice to accept Western global concepts and features of Christmas.

On the other hand however, Ellis et al (2011) argue that ‘it has long been recognized that one

of the cultural contradictions of capitalism is that rationalized production processes exist


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alongside irrational, hedonistic consumption, with people putting some of their own creative

energies into consumption’ (Elliott and Percy, 2007: 69). Therefore, if one assumes that ‘the

consumer does not make consumption choices solely from products’ utilities, that is, what

they actually do, but also from their symbolic meanings, that is, what they communicate’

(Ibid: 44), as well as the fact that symbolic meaning ‘cannot be grasped in purely intellectual

terms’ (Ibid: 25), then perhaps emotions may act as a bridge of interpretation between

consumers and symbolic meaning. As a result, marketers could manipulate this interpreter,

through symbolic meaning creation and generate a brand image portraying ‘a concept of a

product held by the customer, based on reason and emotion that is subjective and perceptual,

with perception being more important than reality’ (Lee, 2009: 28). As a result thus, perhaps

consumers do have a choice to accept or decline global features of Christmas for example,

however, their choice could be persuaded, perhaps subconsciously to some extent, by

marketing and advertising.

This dissertation, instead of foreseeing a process of globalization, has observed a process of

glocalization. Indeed this paper was able to an extent to view an interaction, co-existence and

mixture of global, perhaps more Western characteristics, with local traditions and customs. In

effect, this dissertation argues that although it may seem evident to some extent, that there is

an expansion of Western ideologies and concepts through media and MNC’s, this does not

mean that we are witnessing or foreseeing a process of cultural imperialism possibly through

globalization. The reason is that even though such Western concepts may be accepted and

adopted by other cultures, they do not replace local cultures and homogenize global cultures.

People, although influenced by media and brands, are not solely passive receivers of

persuasive subconscious information that may alter their choice decisions. Especially with the

importance and usage of the internet, people now have substantial information and

knowledge to judge their environment for themselves. Moreover, it is obvious that people


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especially in countries with ancient cultures, will not abandon their local traditions for the

simple reason of feeling connected to the world for instance. Additionally, in terms of

cultural imperialism ‘many people, from various nations, are profoundly anti-American and

continue to rally against the fact that numerous global brands are American by not buying

them’ (Ibid), as well as the fact that ‘when recessionary conditions reduce disposable income,

consumers shift back to locally produced products’ (Ibid).

The celebration of Christmas was chosen to support the above arguments of glocalization, as

having witnessed this holiday throughout history, one could perceive it as a “marketing tool”

to attract “customers”. This idea was further evident after the industrial revolution and the

revival and reinvention of Christmas in England and the US. In effect, when one perceives

Christmas in today’s world, as a global (Western) set of beliefs and features such as the

consumption and celebration of gifts, Christmas lights, Santa Claus and the Christmas tree,

then when witnessing the spread of such global concepts throughout the world, one may be

able to view whether local cultures either fully accept, partly accept or reject them. As a

result, by exploring the celebration of Christmas in countries such as Japan, a non-Christian

country, and Greece, a strong orthodox Christian country through articles, magazines and

interviews, we observe to an extent a process of glocalization, as these local cultures drop,

gain and mix global and local traditions and features, forming a hybrid celebration of the

holiday.

In Greece for instance, there are two significant factors that influenced the glocalization of

Christmas. Firstly, Greek orthodox people tend to view Easter as a more important

celebration than Christmas. Secondly, having a strong Christian orthodox history and church,

Greece has been conditioned into a specific set of beliefs and ways of perceiving and

celebrating religious celebrations such as Christmas, as one magazine source stated that

‘many of the traditions of eons ago continue to exist unchanged, so Christmas in Greece


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maintains its originality and many of the customs’ (explorecrete.com, 2012). In effect when

global concepts of Christmas arrive, significantly commercial ones, Greeks tend to only adopt

certain features for the youth and children mostly, as one interviewee mentioned in chapter 4.

Therefore, having understood this process that is occurring and may well continue what

importance and effect could this have from a marketing perspective?

5.3 A MARKETING PERSPECTIVE OF GLOCALIZATION

It is obvious that in terms of marketing, glocalization may refer to customizing marketing

strategies for different regions of the world according to cultural, regional and national

differences to serve specific target markets’ (Vignali, 2001: 98). Such a strategy may involve

altering the marketing mix of a brand for instance, in order to suit the local culture. This

concept ‘refers to those elements of a firm’s marketing strategy which are designed to meet

the needs of its customers’ (Hall et al, 2006: 172). This involves customizing the “5P’s”;

Product, Price, Promotion, Place and Packaging. Thus, by changing the price of a product

from $200 in the US to $80 in a less developed country could perhaps increase sales there.

Moreover, another strategy of glocalization used by McDonald’s is franchising which is ‘an

agreement where a business sells the rights to other businesses allowing them to sell products

or use the company name’ (Hall et al, 2006: 50). In effect, the essence of McDonald’s global

success ‘has been the use of franchising. By franchising to local people, the delivery and

interpretation of what might be seen as US brand culture are automatically translated by the

local people in terms of both product and service’ (Vignali, 2001: 97).


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These glocalization strategies adopted by corporations can be observed indirectly in the

spread and celebration of Christmas throughout the world. As global Christmas ideologies

and products move to different countries, they are met with different reactions. In chapter 4,

through semi-structured interviews, we could see how Greek traditions are one of the few

remaining centred on family and religion, a factor that maintains an element of religion and

authenticity for Greek Christmas in the face of global commercialized Christmas elements.

Large Greek family Christmas feasts and Christmas mass as well as willingly adopting gift-

giving, Santa Claus and the Christmas tree, as witnessed through statements of interviewees,

depict a glocalization effect and a chosen hybridization of Christmas in Greece.

The difference therefore, between the above glocalization strategies for corporations, and

Christmas, is that in the context of Christmas, these strategies are co-created by consumers

and society. Global concepts of Christmas generated by companies are met with local

Christmas traditions of consumers who create a Christmas celebration (the product/service)

by mixing certain global and local ideologies and beliefs of Christmas (the resources). This

can be better understood through the arguments of Cova and Dalli (2009).

5.4 CO-CREATION

Cova and Dalli (2009) presented a very interesting argument that can be related to

glocalization. In this theme ‘informed, connected, empowered, and active consumers are

increasingly learning that they too can extract value at the traditional point of exchange.

Consumers are now subjecting the industry’s value creation process to scrutiny, analysis, and

evaluation’ (Prahalad, 2004: 6). Moreover, consumers now realize ‘that they are not just a

consumer, but a customizer and a producer of self-images at each consumptive moment’

(Firat, 1997: 195). In effect, emotions and experiences of consumers are vital and should be

of great focus for marketers and organizations. In this context thus the organization must shift


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marketing activities in order to provide a creative atmosphere and surrounding in which

consumers will ‘work their magic’ in creating innovative value and thus the market ‘becomes

a platform for participation in a culture of exchange, where companies offer consumers

resources to create, and where consumers offer companies a contact with the fast-moving

world of knowledge in general’ (Zwick et al, 2008: 172). In effect, ‘the idea is for marketing

to position itself as a mere facilitator and partner of consumer ingenuity and agency’ (Ibid:

173). Hence, as consumers choose to receive these suggestions by companies, their activities

then translate into the process of production of that product and surrounding.

Furthermore, according to Cova and Dalli (2009) there are eight types of co-creation

(consumption experience, co-production in the service encounter, consumer resistance,

service-dominant logic of marketing, collaborative innovation, consumer empowerment,

consumer agency, and consumer tribes) from which consumption experience will be depicted

to understand this concept. Consumption experience develops three categories of consumer

experiences; ‘at one extreme are those experiences that are mainly constructed by consumers

and which may involve company-provided products or services. Hence, consumers are

usually responsible for giving real value to ordinary objects’ (Cova and Dalli, 2009: 318),

such as an old toy or object that may of sentimental importance to an individual. Moreover,

the second category ‘in the middle range, we find experiences that have been co-developed

by companies and consumers’ (Ibid), such as organizing a ziplining tour. The third category

involves the other extreme where ‘we find experiences that companies have largely

developed and in which consumers are immersed in a context that is frequently hyper-real’

(Ibid), such as attending a rugby match for the experience of the massive crowd atmosphere.

Furthermore from this theme one can understand certain points. First, ‘consumers actually

work, whether or not they are aware of being workers, they do work’ (Ibid); in which they

directly contribute to the sum of the value of the product or service and which has been


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clearly witnessed above. Second, ‘consumers interact with one another and with company

members. Innovation comes from communities in which individuals work in collaboration

with one another and contribute to the social and cultural capital of the community’ (Cova

and Dalli, 2009: 325). This is evident in the examples of Apple and the internet blogs. Third,

‘consumers pursue personal purposes such as satisfaction, pleasure, commitment, social

interaction, etc’ (Ibid). This is evident in the theme of brand identity seeking and consumer

resistance as a reaction to displeasures. Fourth, ‘companies often participate in the

performance of these activities. Sometimes they are forced to when consumers ask for it,

while other times they have to in order to increase their competitiveness’ (Ibid), such as the

help desks at IKEA and Harley-Davidson’s development of brandfests. These points can be

related to the process of Christmas and glocalization.

First, consumers do indeed work as presented through interviews and magazines in Greece,

where consumers modify the celebration and atmosphere of Christmas by preserving

traditional elements such as Greek food, religious ceremonies and in some cases the Greek

traditional Christmas boat, and at the same time adopt global elements such as Santa Claus,

Christmas lights and gift-giving. Thus, consumers work to generate a suitable Christmas

celebration (service) for their society. Second, consumers interact with each other and spread

ideologies of Christmas from main cities like Athens to far villages, where Christmas has

been altered (slightly) even at these remote locations. Third, these changes in Christmas

celebration in Greece occur as consumers pursue feelings of pleasure and satisfaction. Hence,

by including Santa Claus and gift-giving in the Greek Christmas while at the same time

preserving family and religious ceremonies, both the youth and the elder members of society

may be satisfied, as one interviewee had mentioned in chapter 4


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‘we tend to adopt just one or two features to satisfy the children; that is why

we buy them presents and tell them the story of Santa Claus, but we also tell

them the Greek version.’.

Lastly, producers participate by providing ideas products and services of Christmas as a base

that can be manipulated and modified by consumers.

Therefore, by examining the glocalization process through the spread and celebration of

Christmas, corporations in today’s world may be able to ascertain and exploit the benefits of

glocalization strategies through the notion of co-creation according to Cova and Dali’s (2009)

arguments, and may be able to further evolve such concepts through research and

development, and psychology and marketing in order to relate better to the consumer and

facilitate their creative capabilities to a greater extent, and thus gain greater returns on the

corporation’s products/services.

5.5 FINAL CONCLUSION

In a world dominated by human beings it seems preferable and convenient to envision a

globalized society in which most and perhaps even all aspects of human life around the globe

are converged and integrated into a single homogeneous system, culture and way of life.

However, such a vision seems to relate more to a utopia or even a dystopia, significantly for

people who are more anit-capitalist, of the future of mankind, where poverty is replaced with

equality as a result of governing market forces of the financial systems under the ideologies

of globalization. Although humanity does ‘rule’ the Earth, for many reasons humankind is

diverse with a heterogeneous society and as Hirst argues ‘the world economy is far from

being genuinely global’ (Hirst et al, 2009: 3). The fact is that culture plays an extremely

crucial role in the operation and mentality of societies. Hence, arguments of global cultural


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influences, or Western Imperialism, factors which may eventually bring about a genuinely

global society, have not manifested into reality and seem doubtful to occur in the future

because of their one-sidedness. Asian, European and African nations include strong ancient

cultures with dominant, preserved traditions that guide their society and define their

conception of reality through belief systems. Thus, foreign cultural elements entering these

cultures, although may be attractive and global; they will always seem ‘alien’ to those

societies. In effect, as Huntington (1993) states ‘culture and the conflicts between

civilizations will be the defining feature of global struggles’ (El-Ojeili and Hayden,

2006:167).

On the other hand, when perceiving the current world through the notion of glocalization, one

may begin to understand and appreciate the differences in cultures and civilizations. In effect,

‘For Huntington, the differences between civilizations are material and basic,

concerning the essence of a person (‘what are you?’) and therefore much less

mutable than, say, class identifications. Different civilizations hold to very

different understandings of the relationship between God and man, the

individual and the group, and men and women, and differ significantly on the

importance of liberty, equality, and authority’ (El-Ojeili and Hayden, 2006:

168).

This concept of glocalization, where the global meets the local, can be related to Huntigton’s

statements concerning the clash of civilizations. One major phenomenon that is able to depict

this argument is the evolution and expansion of the celebration of Christmas. Christmas

having been created to convert more people to Christianity, over the years, significantly

during the industrial revolution in Britain, it has expanded at rapid level and is now

celebrated globally even in non-Christian nations. When looking at this event at its surface,


Page | 62

one may be convinced that it is because of globalization effects or Western influences

through the use of marketing and media. However, when examining this topic at a deeper

level, through this dissertation we are able to view how clashes between civilizations and

their cultures work to modify and generate a hybrid concept of Christmas for each country. In

Japan Christmas has become a form of vacation away from the torments of work and routine.

In Greece, having examined magazines and performed semi-structured interviews to Greek

people, we are able to observe how Christmas represents a strong traditional family and

religious event that has over time accepted certain global characteristics of the

commercialized Christmas.

From a marketing perspective thus, such a perception of today’s world would indicate the

need to establish extensive consideration and examination of local traditions, norms, trends

and beliefs and align them to the image of corporations’ products and services. This becomes

increasingly necessary when considering the raised awareness and scepticism of consumers

in today’s society. Although there are companies that are indeed undertaking glocalization

strategies such as McDonald’s, what may offer further information and insight into this

concept are the arguments of Cova and Dalli (2009) on co-creation. These arguments may

help corporations understand that producers now just or are able to just act as facilitators of a

base, an infrastructure (the product/service) in which consumers unleash their imagination,

creativity and identity. In effect, the consumer now becomes the producer, and the

corporation the guide.


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