The Strategy of the "Tiger Mother"

A book was published recently by a woman who has nicknamed herself the "Tiger Mother." An article was published on the Wall Street Journal's website (click here to view) that is essentially a brief synopsis of the content of the book.

The article (and book, apparently) proposes a very strict parenting style advertised as "stereotypically Chinese" that will (supposedly) produce high-achieving children (since Asian children are stereotyped in America as being high-achieving). The parenting style consists mainly of forcing children to work long hours in academics and music study, while prohibiting them from doing such things as attending sleepovers and watching television.

While the effectiveness of this parenting style in producing high-achieving children can be debated (as it is, heatedly, in the more than 7,000 comments in response to the article on the WSJ website), the article is very interesting from a strategy standpoint. Michael Porter discusses in his seminal article "What is Strategy?" that the essence of strategy is making choices and trade-offs. Nowhere outside of the business world have I seen this principle so vividly illustrated. According to Amy Chua, the author of the article, if a parent wants his children to succeed academically, they must give up (or rather, he must give up for them) the hours of television watching common among American children. If he wants the children to be successful in music, they must not spend hours having playdates with other children.

As pointed out in the comments to the article and in other articles written in response, this parenting style does indeed imply other, larger trade-offs. One example is that, while emphasizing academic achievement, it does not encourage critical thinking or curiosity, or even the ability to pursue a child's interests or native talents. It also "trades off" the teaching of social and other interpersonal skills that are becoming increasingly important in the modern workplace. It may also give up a child's emotional well-being in pursuit of success. Ultimately, it demonstrates that in parenting, serious, difficult choices must be made in determining what to emphasize and what to de-emphasize in childrearing.

The article also illustrates Porter's principle of the "Activity System" which is commonly used to describe the interconnections of a company's activities performed in pursuit of its strategic goals. In the case of the "Tiger Mother," strict rules, a confrontational parenting style, and forced practice for academics and music would be the main hubs in the activity system web. Offshoots of these activities would be prohibition of video games, calling the children names in an effort to motivate them, and two hours of forced music practice per day, respectively.

While I don't believe Chua's philosophy is the best for raising children in America today, it has allowed me to stop and think about my own goals in parenting my (future) children. When the time comes, my wife and I will have a series of serious discussions regarding our goals for our children, what trade-offs we will have to make in achieving those goals, and how to set up our activity system to support the achievement of those goals. We will also be careful in making sure that our activity system really will produce the achievement of the goals we set, rather than containing activities we hope will achieve our goals (as I believe Chua has done). In so doing, I hope that we can have a greater likelihood of achieving true parenting success.

Wal-Mart targets health-conscious customers with new food program

A story hit the web yesterday about Wal-Mart's new 'healthy' food program.

According to the story, this program includes two elements: pressuring national packaged food vendors (from whom Wal-Mart purchases) to create 'healthier' items with less sugar and sodium and smaller portion sizes; and selling more locally grown produce in stores across the country. (I put the word 'healthier' in quotations because, really, how healthy can a bag of Chips Ahoy! actually be?)

This news is interesting to me for two reasons. First of all, it's an interesting strategy relating to Wal-Mart's postitioning. Wal-Mart is the quintessential low-cost, broad-scope retailer. While this initiative doesn't change that at all, it will add a smaller-scale positioning within Wal-Mart's positioning as a whole. Health-conscious consumers can visit one of the chain's low-cost, broad-scope stores and find a narrow-scope, not-as-low cost section targeted to them (though, as the story states, part of the initiative will be selling local fruits and vegetables at a lower cost than will competitors).

Of course, this type of activity isn't totally new for Wal-Mart. For years, the chain has sold regional items: L.D.S. books in Utah, 'potato' souvenirs in Idaho, local university apparel, and so forth. However, to my knowledge, this is the first time Wal-Mart has created a section for a non-geographic customer segment. Whether the new food program will be successful remains to be seen, but it is interesting that Wal-Mart has become so large that it has the ability to create narrow-scope, higher-cost sections inside of its low-cost, broad-scope stores. It will also be interesting to see if the chain follows up with similar sections in the future. Will Wal-Mart begin offering sections for minority ethnic groups or the L.G.B.T. community?

Another, less interesting aspect of this news is Wal-Mart's ongoing attempt to rehabilitate its public image, which is another strategic decision. Wal-Mart has been seen as something of an "Evil Empire" for a while, and this new food program is not the first attempt to change that. The news story mentions past attempts by the chain to pressure laundry detergent producers to create more environmentally friendly packaging, for example. The 'social responsibility crowd' has been growing in recent years, demanding that companies provide responsible options in regards to the environment, food choices, and so forth. The food initiative is an example of Wal-Mart coordinating its web of activities to be attractive to this market segment. Of course, this segment of the consumer base isn't very large right now; the fact that Wal-Mart is catering to it implies that the chain believes this segment will continue to grow. The chances are that Wal-Mart has done some serious research to come to this conclusion; the chances also are that more and more companies are going to follow suit.