EX TENEBRIS CRESCIT FLOS
March of the Chains
Chain Stores and Their Philosophy
November 9, 2005
Is This a Takeover?
Is society being taken over by chains, being McDonaldized [1], being turned into
a bland sea of conformity and bureaucracy? Are chain stores and restaurants
taking over more than the buildings they occupy? Is this so bad? And is there
any resistance? Chain stores and restaurants operate by the organizational
principles of efficiency, consistency, predictability, automated control,
and conformity. McDonald's is the oft-cited vanguard of this movement, which
has spread to most sectors of the retail economy. Wal-Mart is the latest
focus of complaints, but is it a cause of problems, or merely a symptom?
Everywhere, big-box retailers and fast-food restaurants proliferate, sucking
up customers and leaving little room for small, local businesses to thrive.
This much is obvious, but the mentality goes deeper and affects all aspects
of our daily lives. There is no escape, except possibly to move into a small
cabin in Montana and become self-sufficient, while writing a manifesto (and
hopefully not making any bombs). The march of the chains is unstoppable, or
is it?
The Philosophy of Chains
Chain stores and big fast-food restaurants are classic bureaucracies [2]. They
desire efficiency and consistency, and to those ends they have a strongly
hierarchical organizational structure, and they automate whatever they can,
realizing that human variations can hurt consistency. When I go to
McDonalds, I expect a consistent product and consistent service regardless of
the location. I can get the same food anywhere in the country, and when I
pull into the drive-up I know what I am getting. The quality is reasonably
good, and the process is simple. This particular chain has succeeded well
in attaining its goals. The only problem I ever have is when an employee
messes up an order. Perhaps if the process were even more automated, these
mistakes would be minimized further. For me, there is a time and a place for
this. When I am worn-out and don't want to take a lot of time or have a lot of
hassle, the chain fast-food restaurant is the perfect place to go. The
efficient bureaucracy works well for consistent, mediocre food. But if I want
top quality, a good experience, and something unique, the locally-owned
restaurant is my top choice. This type of business is the antithesis of the
chain. Efficiency and consistency are sacrificed for creativity and top
quality.
Retail chains follow the same philosophy. The same products, similar store
layouts, and similar employees can be found in stores nationwide. If I woke
up in the middle of a Wal-Mart, a Target, a Barnes & Noble, or any other
such store, I would not know which city I was in. Consistency is the rule,
and efficiency at the check-out line is always excellent. A great selection
of manufactured products can be found, and these stores can easily and cheaply
supply many of my basic needs. But what if I want a unique hand-made
product or an unknown book with a minuscule print run? These massive,
efficient chains cannot supply this need. Big bureaucracies can only do so
much.
These philosophies of efficiency and consistency, and the bureaucratic
conformity that results, are not limited to chains. Big corporations and big
government strive for these goals, sometimes reaching success as they define it.
At some point, bureaucratic organizations get so large and bogged down in rules
that they lose their efficiency - this is the failing of government.
Generally, people have come to expect these goals. Employers want pliant,
conforming
employees, and customers want businesses to efficiently supply whatever they
need or want. I work in a corporate environment organized on the bureaucratic
model. Efficiency of production and consistency in product quality are the
goals. Production is automated to the extent possible to avoid human failings.
These goals, however, do not work so well for research and development tasks,
so the organization must encourage creativity in this area or else innovative
new products will not be developed. McDonaldization can only go so far.
The Downside
The conversion of our society to the mentality of bland chain stores and
restaurants has its ill effects. As I have mentioned, efficiency and
consistency clash with individuality and creativity. The chain mentality is
uncreative and conformist. It discourages new ideas, and it seeks out the
lowest common denominator. The bureaucratic model is good at supplying basic
needs to the masses, but it does not cater well to individual taste, no matter
how hard it tries. Chain stores get bigger and bigger in order to offer a huge
selection, but all they offer is more of the same. How many different
mediocre-quality shirts or crummy coffee makers do we really need to choose
from? The number of choices is good, but the quality of the choices is not so
good, and the process of choosing from among a number of mediocre choices has
become stressful for many people [3].
The efficient corporate model also causes serious problems for workers. In the
race to the bottom on cost, jobs move overseas where the principles of the
chain are implemented in factories where efficiency is the rule and the needs
of employees are not considered. People in the United States and other
industrialized societies are left out of work, and people in developing
countries are ruthlessly exploited in the name of efficiency and consistency.
Large chain stores have so much control over their suppliers that there is no
alternative to this bureaucratic exploitation. Even in the United States, as
the chain mentality gains ground, labor standards drop and unions are broken.
The meat-packing industry, whose terrible labor practices were exposed by
Upton Sinclair [4] in the early 20th Century, was forced to improve, but now
as the chain restaurants have effective control over suppliers, it is now
regressing to its previous poor standards [5]. The cost of that hamburger is
the exploitation of poor immigrant workers who are not informed of their
rights under the weakening, but still present, labor standards in the United
States.
The Resistance
In the shadow of the chains, resistance is thriving. Chain stores and
restaurants have a few major weaknesses - they have difficulty in creatively
adapting to local conditions, they do not serve small niche markets well, and
they tend towards a quality level that is mediocre to good and consistent, but
not excellent. To truly serve people or produce products with the highest
quality and an individual touch, creativity and commitment are required. The
best small businesses easily rise to this challenge.
The chains supply some of my needs, but not all. For basic needs, they are
great, but I often want items or services to be of the best quality and
uniquely designed to cater to my tastes. Only a knowledgeable and creative
business can accomplish this. Fine wine and cheese, for example, are best
purchased from small businesses that know their products extremely well.
These products are never consistent, varying considerably from region to region
and year to year, and they are rather fragile. These characteristics are the
antithesis of what the chains desire. Chains prefer artifically flavored jug
wine and pasteurized process cheese food since they can be produced efficently,
cheaply, and consistently. I would prefer to risk some inconsistency and get
an artistically made product in which real care was taken. Even the worst of
these are better than processed cheese-like stuff. Fine cheese will likely
always be a niche market, forever out of reach of the chains (or handled
poorly if they try).
Another element of resistance to the chain mentality is the fair trade
movement. Generally, small organizations pay people in developing countries
a good living to produce a top quality product. Since these people are not
being exploited, they tend to be more engaged and interested in what they
produce, and these products exhibit excellent artistic quality. They are
definitely not consistent. In examining, for example, a group of fair trade
baskets, I found that no two were exactly alike, but all were top quality.
Of course, they cost more, but it is well worth it. I get a better product, and
I am not exploiting people by buying it. Hopefully, fair trade clothing will
gain some traction - it would be nice to have an alternative to McDonaldized
clothing.
Although many local businesses have suffered at the hands of the chains, many
others are thriving. They survive by offering unique products and by having
knowledgeable employees. Chains cannot successfully occupy every niche.
There will continue to be challenges. For example, Wild Oats offers a good
selection of fine artisan cheeses and Barnes & Noble has a good selection of
local-interest books which vary depending on the store location. But will the
large book chains get into used books? At this point, dealing in used books
seems beyond their abilities, so the independent bookstore will continue to
serve this market.
What Does the Future Hold?
Will chain stores and fast-food restaurants be a dominant factor in our
economy for the forseeable future? I believe they will, barring an economic
collapse. But I believe their growth and the spread of their mentality will
eventually stall, hampered by the inadequacies of their philosophy. We can
already see this in government, where bureaucratic efficiency has morphed into
bureaucratic standstill. If this happens to the chain stores, innovative
smaller businesses will quickly fill the vacuum. Also, I do not believe
big businesses will ever successfully master niche markets which thrive on
inconsistency and creativity. Small local businesses, small artistic
manufacturing industries, and the fair trade movement will continue to grow
in these niches. And even in big businesses, research and development
organizations are often given a great deal of autonomy, and the best employees
are rewarded by high salaries and a good degree of independence. I work for
a bureaucratic company, but an R&D model is superimposed on the organization,
and I find that my individual skills and creativity are an asset, rather than
a liability like they would be if I worked at a fast-food establishment.
As more manufacturing jobs leave the country, the R&D environment will become
more important and it will challenge the bureaucratic model.
The march of the chains will continue, but those of us who are creative and
innovative will survive, and even thrive, in their shadow.
Sources and Further Reading
[1] Macionis, John J., "Sociology." 10th Ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2005.
[2] Fudjack, John and Patricia Dinkelaker, "Towards a Diversity of Psychological Type in Organization." http://homepage.mac.com/bahlberg/DiversityOfType/", October 1994.
[3] Schwartz, Barry, "The Paradox of Choice - Why More Is Less." New York: Harper Perennial, 2005.
[4] Sinclair, Upton, "The Jungle." Barnes & Noble Classics, 1995.
[5] Schlosser, Eric, "Fast Food Nation." New York: Harper Perennial, 2002.
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