Summary
The article The Science of Desire presents ethnography and its proponents play an important role in modern business world. Author Ante began with an example, the satellite-radio war, to show how ethnography worked in business.
In satellite-radio war, Sirius Satellite Ratio made a team of social scientists, designers, and ethnographers. Through studying customers’ habit of listening to music, watching TV and reading magazines, the team concluded several facts that can defeat competitors. Then, depending on the research, Sirius launched its new product, the Sirius S50. Later, as the company’s wish, the S50 became one of the hottest sellers in that season.
How does ethnography work in business? Many examples show brainstorms often happened with the guidance of ethnographers because ethnographers can find out what is people’s missing in their lives and help designers to improve products and services to satisfy customers. The key of ethnographer’s work is a deeper understanding of customers than what does traditional research. Sometimes, people have unarticulated desires, but traditional research or survey cannot find these desires. Company should closely observe people where they live and work, and find out what they prefer but they do not aware yet.
Because of the prominent effects, more and more companies, especially large companies such as IBM and Intel, pay more attention to hire ethnographers to join in their design and produce. Therefore, schools pay more attention to anthropology courses and recruit more anthropology faculties and students. Marietta L. Baba, Michigan State University’s dean of social sciences, says, “Ethnography [has] escaped from academia, where it had been held hostage.”
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