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Opportunism
“To pull a fast one on someone” is the best translation I can find for the Brazilian everyday expression “Passar a perna em alguem”. Being from another country I was able to see the differences in the culture of opportunism between the US and Brazil. Here, people stay in line at the supermarket, there people cut line with no shame or respect for everyone else. Here, people stay on their lanes during traffic, there the shoulder lane is almost a 4th lane since everyone seems to drive in it. While I know that Americans are not perfect and there is always a few bad apple, opportunism does not seem to be the norm. I believe people here are more likely to give a helping hand and as an example I will mention the recent hurricanes in Florida and Texas.
In times of natural disaster, people stock on essentials such as water, food, and barricade their homes with wood panels, sand bags etc… The suppliers that supposedly are always trying to always maximize profits could in face of the spikes in demand, raise prices, but that is not what we see happen across the country in times of need. Companies around the country acted altruistic towards the situation.
Walmart sent out 1,060 emergency trucks carrying water to Hurricane Harvey affected areas. Anheuser-Busch shut down beer production and distributed canned water to Texas. Miami Beach hotels decreased their rates to $99 or less, to accommodate those who couldn’t flee the hurricane, or the ones who still do not have power after the tragedy, Verizon and AT&T got drones to help with recovery efforts. The Hyatt Regency hotel in Orlando opened its doors to nearly 1000 dogs and their owners during the hurricane, the list goes on and on.
I truly believe that all these companies had the opportunity to act opportunistic and raise prices, but instead they choose to either lower rates or donate. I can only speculate on the reasons why they choose to act altruistic when they had the opportunity to take advantage of the situation. In times of social media news travel fast, spiking up the prices in one store could cause repercussions for the brand around the country. Helping the community and donating generate good PR, and even a person like me, who lives thousand of miles from Florida or Texas, can still find out the acts of kindness and generosity of such companies.
But I do not think that these companies act only based on the future gains that acting altruistic will generate. I believe that is the norm in America to come together and help each other in times of need, as one country, one market.
Brazil has faced many natural disasters as well, fortunately we do not suffer from hurricanes or earthquakes, but some real problems are mudslides and floods. There, I never saw one company taking the lead and donating money or resources, there is usually the people that help the community. I also do not remember the last time Brazilians went on a strike against certain brand/company.
To conclude, I believe that not acting opportunistically comes from the culture, from the strong morals in which the children are raised, from thee ability to “put yourself in someone else shoes”, from the example that is set by companies that are run not only by stockholders, but by people.
I know you went to a different school before coming to the U of I, but as you've been here for a while now you may think Champaign-Urbana represents all of the U.S. I grew up in New York City and I can assert with some confidence that opportunistic behavior - the cutting in line variety - is greater in large cities than it is in college towns. So, depending on where you are from in Brazil, it may be population density rather than differences in culture which drives the behavior.
ReplyDeleteI have never been to Latin America but I did spend one month in Portugal as a visiting scholar back in the 1980s. I have no idea whether the culture there is similar to the culture in Brazil, but I don't recall any of the opportunistic behavior that you report. I do recall watching bull fighting on TV once or twice, where the bulls seemed to be winning, quite unlike how it appeared on TV when I saw it in Spain. Otherwise, I thought the people very gentle and helpful, except that I struggled with the language.
Let me give a less dramatic example for you to contemplate. When Uber first became a thing, it created something of a controversy by not having fixed prices but rather flex prices based on demand. So in a bad storm, when everyone wanted a ride, prices would go up. This was built into their model at the outset. Some people still thought this unfair - price gauging if you will. Others thought it efficient because it did encourage more drivers to be out in bad weather - they can earn more then.
The recent hurricanes that you mention have been of a severity that we've never experienced before. They are truly frightening. I have family in both Florida and in Texas. I know they are physically safe, but I'm unsure what is the status of their homes. In any event, this is not just the case of a local dislocation. This is an international devastation.
So the noble gestures of the companies you mentioned are good to see, but the circumstance is so exceptional that I wouldn't take it as predictive of their behavior when there is dislocation but things aren't quite so dire.
Hurricane Harvey was a great example! I was reading the news and checking the rate at which the hurricane affected insurance companies. Now considering how much people have lost both physically, (in terms of properties) and emotionally makes me so sad. Indeed, opportunism could have been a possibility for different companies. For example, airlines could have inflated their prices because of the increase in the demand of people travelling out of Texas. Instead this wasn't the case, although they were shortage of flights due to the adverse weather condition.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, there was a lot of scamming especially during the hurricane period. Hackers acted as opportunist and took advantage of the situation to send out phishing emails acting as insurance companies trying to help the victims. These scammers tried to use the vulnerability of the victims to steal their information. In fact, they also took advantage of people by setting up fake accounts asking people to donate to the victims. One would think that in the midst of such a horrible crisis that souls were lost and people's properties were destroyed, others would be considerate enough to act as good citizens.
I can totally identify with your experience between the US and Brazil with opportunism. I am Indian American and every time I go to visit India, it is the same thing with cars, motorbikes, and autorickshaws on the shoulders (I don't even know if there are shoulder lanes in some areas in India because people also walk on the roads). Here in the US, there's a common understanding of personal space, while in India people bump into me all the time because I'm used to respecting personal space.
ReplyDeleteLike Professor Arvan, I grew up on the East Coast of the US, in New Jersey, and New York and New Jersey culture (despite what some New Yorkers may feel, its an ongoing debate between NJ and NY) is quite similar in that it is a lot more fast-paced than it is here in the Midwest. In New Jersey, if you're not going 5 mph above the speed limit, you're too slow. That attitude somewhat translate to how we treat one another too, meaning that it isn't always "hello, good mornings" and "please, thank you". When I'm by myself, I'm usually going about my business. If I'm on an elevator, I keep to myself for the short ride. However, I've noticed here in Champaign, people say hi and sometimes try to make conversation with random strangers (which tbh sometimes makes me feel awkward because I'm not used to those type of situations).
Also being from New Jersey, I have experienced a couple of hurricanes: Hurricane Irene and Hurricane Sandy, and a few freak snow storm like the big nor'easter exactly a year after Sandy when Christie actually cancelled and postponed Halloween (I know, that actually happened). As much as natural disasters are terrible, it's always comforting to see everyone come together to help each other out. It brings me emotion that neighbors, even ones you barely know, will lend an extension cord to their generator so you can keep your fridge or sum pump running. My basement flooded during Hurricane Irene because we weren't that prepared for it. We'd never really had a major hurricane hit us like that before and when they announced that Irene was on her way, my family and I were in Florida at Disney World. We packed our things and drove as fast as we could and got back just in time to see the supermarkets empty. For Sandy, we bought an inverter ahead of time to connect our fridge, TV, and a light to the car battery. We would have friends sleepover at our place when they didn't have power yet because gas for generators was low in supply and the NJ state government had put a ration on gas. I also remember going to Wegman's (a grocery store, I don't think it's in the Midwest) because they had power and were offering space for people to charge their phones. In this case, while companies like Wegman's could've charged for electricity or something like that, I still don't think they're being 100% altruistic. I think that companies that volunteer these types of things when natural disasters happen is so that we remember who helped us when disaster stuck.