Week 5 Bin Xiao

The popularity of Danish products in the United States is usually related to the “Danish design” (Hansen, 2006, p. 449) and its particular beauty. The reason for this popularity does not lie just in the quality and beauty of Danish products. Denmark’s design products have been accompanied by narratives, which explain to the clients the new design concepts. Further, a whole network of people and organizations has taken care to promote the new concepts of Danish modern furniture and of the Danish small-scale industry as a whole, through the power of the language narrative. “The object is nothing” (Baudrillard, Qtd. by Hansen, 2006, p. 449), is a French sociological concept from the 1950s, focusing on the power of the language narrative in promoting fashion, or any consumer goods. Danish producers and designers did not miss this opportunity to construct the narrative of “Danish Modern” (p. 449), as an internationally recognized product. Historically, Danish design has been explained with its aesthetics and the individual talents of those producing “beauty, simplicity and functionality” (p. 450). Certainly, it is not only about proper marketing. Danish furniture industry has its “sub narratives” (p. 453) of scientific design and craftsmanship (p. 456). However, the popularity of modern Danish design and its entire small-scale furniture industry would not have succeeded without the efforts of the social network to assign meaning to the products (p. 450). Hansen (p. 450) disambiguates this narrative, explaining that the concept Danish Modern is a “concocted creation that is devised wholly to help sell and …has no life of itself" (p. 450).  “Brands assign certain meanings to products and even to universities, nations and monarchies” (Wally Olins, 2000, Qtd. by Hansen, 2006, p. 451). The story of Danish modern design is the story of contemporary Denmark, which was able to recover its economy after the war and to create a new national aesthetics narrative of a modern country that is beautiful, simple and functional.

 

The remaking of Danish industry is not only about aesthetics and branding.  Hedemann & Nissen (2006) argue that the industry of Danish furniture experienced serious structural changes since the 1960s, in an environment of openness to strong international competition. (p. 15). From a small-scale industry, it has developed into an important player on the international market. The expansion began with outsourcing to Eastern Europe in the 1990s and then after the year 2000. The authors provide evidence how the notion of Danish modern furniture evolved into new and large international business models (p. 15).  Unlike the USA, Denmark is a relatively small economy, which is reliant on international trade. Denmark’s economic policy has evolved towards openness to the global markets and in the concept of free trade exchange. The country is a member of all relevant international organizations and unions, which facilitate free trade – the EU, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the World Trade Organization. Denmark is also one of the co-founders of the United Nations in 1945. Mentioning these facts is particularly relevant in terms of the themes of the day in the USA. Unlike Denmark, the prevailing concept of the current U.S. administration is that participation in the UN and WTO limits U.S. state sovereignty. Denmark has been efficiently outsourcing industries and investing worldwide. What Denmark values as efficient tools for national economic growth and expansion are being reassessed in the USA as an obstacle to its national economy. Differently, Denmark looks at the world economy as a system of interrelated political, economic and cultural links. Hedemann & Nissen (2006) view the success story of the Danish furniture industry and Denmark’s economic and cultural rebirth as the end sum of Denmark’s open policies. Danish furniture industry serves as a sample of the overall Danish social and economic concept.

The inevitable question arising from both readings is whether the Danish economic, social and cultural model is more efficient and/or appealing than the U.S. model. The economic graphs below, posted on the web (Bruenig, 2015), as well as the samples of Danish modern design suggest an argument for a further discussion.

References

Bruenig, M. (2015, October 20). United States vs. Denmark, in 17 Charts. Retrieved October 22, 2017, from http://www.demos.org/blog/10/20/15/united-states-vs-denmark-17-charts

Hansen, P. H. (2006). Networks, Narratives, and New Markets: The Rise and Decline of Danish Modern Furniture Design, 1930-1970. The Business History Review,80(3), 449-483. Retrieved November 20, 2017, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/25097226

Hedemann, L., & Nissen, M. R. (2013). The internationalization of Danish furniture. A value chain perspective. Erhvervshistorisk Årbog,2, 16-36. Retrieved November 22, 2017, from https://tidsskrift.dk/eaa/article/download/15649/13523.