Curiosities Cabinet: Creative Economy

Working in the Digital Economy

21:06

DIGITAL ECONOMY

The digital economy is classified as the fourth industrial revolution. Each industrial revolution has offered a new technology that significantly alters business model and human life in general. Previously, human depended on the agricultural industry which exploits natural resources. Afterwards, the transformation began with the invention of steam power, electricity, electronics, information and communication technology (ICT), up to the internet of things in the late 2000s (Maynard, 2015). Internet of things combine the extant technologies such as personal computers, web 1.0, and web 2.0 in an interconnected system. In such way, it will blur the distinction between software and hardware. As the ICT gets cheaper and becomes more accessible to wider people, the digital economy emerges (WEF, 2017).

Figure 1. Combinatorial Effects of Technology (WEF, 2017)

The implication of the fourth industrial revolution is workers must adapt to the digital technology. Since it harnesses the creative capability of human resources rather than natural resources, the term knowledge worker was used as the opposite to routine worker who works in rigid schedule and brick-and-mortar office (Colbert et al., 2016). Furthermore, knowledge worker emphasises on ‘embrained knowledge rather than embodies and embedded knowledge’ (Colbert et al., 2016, p.206).

The structure of the report is based on 3 aspects of working that are affected by the digital economy, namely: ‘(1) workplace; (2) workforce; and (3) manner of work’ (Greenfield, 2014, p.109). Finally, it explains some government’s public policies to adapt to the digital economic landscape.

WORKPLACE

Current physical work surrounding is highly different from the office 20 years ago. With the advancement of technology, we simplify almost the whole workplace into a single desk. This leads to a more flexible work environment. The flexibility is also assisted by virtual knowledge sharing platforms such as Trello and Google Drive so that workers can solve problems or tasks from several locations at the same time. On the other hand, with the emergence of virtual communication media such as Whatsapp and Google Hangout, the communication line is more structured even though the managers, workers, or clients do not engage in a face-to-face meeting (Colbert et al., 2016).

Furthermore, start-ups can minimise their operational cost because they do not require to establish its own physical workplace. Nowadays there are many co-working spaces thus start-ups or independent workers can get office facility without establishing official workplace. The system of the co-working spaces is desk or small room rent. Other common office facilities such as receptionist, meeting room, and even café can be used together. Moreover, it is also possible to do work from home or for a company to establish a modular office (Greenfield, 2014).

WORKFORCE

The key subjects of digital economy are interactivity and open content. The goal is to overcome physical barriers and create a borderless world so that people can connect with anyone with the same interest, no matter where they live (Lanzolla and Anderson, 2008). Even though the application of ICT seems simple, it requires complex management process. That is why, digital economy is responsible for generating many new occupations in the past few years such as social media marketer, content manager, data analyst, and user interface designer. As stated in OECD (2015, p.43) report, ‘employment in the ICT sector accounted for more than 14 million people, almost 3% of total employment in the OECD’ countries. However, the employment growth is still fluctuating.

Figure 2. ICT Sector and Total Employment Growth in the OECD Area (OECD, 2015)

Most of the digital workers are digital immigrants which mean that they recently learned to operate digital devices in their adulthood. They are different with the digital natives of the younger generation which already exposed to the digital environment since their early stage of life (Maynard, 2015). Besides digital literacy, World Economic Forum (2016) discovers 10 essential skills for knowledge workers in the digital age as shown in the diagram below. It conveys that creativity as the ability to produce knowledge is getting more important in the future.

Figure 3. Top 10 Workers' Skills (WEF, 2016)

With the transformation of workplace concept, the notions of self-employment and freelance are thriving. A report from Klair (2016) showed that self-employed and part-time workers trend increased dramatically in the beginning of 2014 and the number are predicted to keep rising. Currently, there is a total of 4.6 million self-employed workers in the UK only. In addition, there is also a concept of interim manager which offer non-permanent outsourced manager for short-term contract projects (Inkson et al., 2001)

Figure 4. Net Employment Growth in the UK (Klair, 2016)

Another change is happening in the recruitment process. It is getting easier because interview can be conducted via an online platform. Moreover, with the international trade collaboration, people can work anywhere. For example, approximately 89,000 Indian engineers dominate Silicon Valley’s start-up workers (Dave, 2015). Besides, the presence of online resume and portfolio websites such as Linkedin and Behance makes it more convenient for head-hunter to recruit some specific workers independently rather than creating job advertisement. Therefore, workers must pay attention to their personal branding in the online presence (Fottrell, 2016). Some websites like Freelance, Upwork, and Toptal also perform as platforms to connect workers to clients and vice versa (Johansson, 2015).

MANNER OF WORK

Flexible working constitutes in a task-specific approach rather than strict working hours. Workers are allowed to work anytime they want as long as the task will be finished on deadline (Colbert et al., 2016). The company also encourages their workers to be more proactive and find solutions together rather than executing an order in the top-bottom approach because it aspires for continuous improvement (Nonaka and Taekuchi, 1995).

However, the flexibility of digital workers has merged work and home and blurred the distinction between work and play (Greenfield, 2014). The drawback is they may confuse to distinguish between working time and leisure time. For instance, even after they arrive at home, they continue to do a working task or discuss the task via smartphone thus it may act as a distraction from their wellbeing and social life (Colbert et al., 2016).

ROLE OF GOVERNMENT

It is important for every country to adapt with the dynamic of the industrial revolution. Nowadays many countries consider ICT as the driver for national economic growth. Considering this fact, the governments must formulate public policies to reinforce the development phase. The policy can be formulated based on the supply-side (producer) or the demand-side (consumer or user) as illustrated in the table below (Pick and Sharkar, 2015).

Figure 5. Classification of ICT Policies in Several Countries (Pick and Sarkar, 2015)

In general, the key objective of the policy is to prevent digital divide. The digital divide is the knowledge gap between the digital immigrants who require constant ICT education and the digital natives (Wong et al., 2009). Furthermore, according to United Nations (2012, as cited in Pick and Sarkar, 2015, p.338), ‘access to the internet is a basic human right’. Regarding this matter, most of the policies accentuate the development of network structure (e.g. faster fibre internet access) and provide supporting tools (e.g. free computers to school). With these programs, ICT is proclaimed to be inclusive and accessible for a whole range of social class. After the infrastructures are established, the government can do related training to improve digital literacy. Consequently, these programs will boost the quality of the forthcoming digital workers and prepare them to compete globally (Wong et al., 2009).

CONCLUSION

There are many positive impacts of the workers’ change in the digital economy. Some of them are time and space flexibility, the removal of labour’s boundaries to work internationally, and a desire of self-improvement that will also impact the company. The advantages lead to government policies to abolish digital divide and provide citizen with an inclusive environment. Furthermore, to be able to compete in the current economic landscape, workers must possess the required skills and adapt with the manner of work because change is inevitable.

DISCLAIMER
This is an essay for Digital Transformation Assignment for Creative Industries and Cultural Policy Course at the University of Glasgow. Please provide proper citation if you use this as reference.

REFERENCES

COLBERT, A., et al. (2016) The Digital Workforce and the Workplace of the Future. Academy of Management Journal, 59(3), pp.731-739.

DAVE, P. (2015) Indian Immigrants are Tech’s New Titants. Los Angeles Times, 11^th August. Available from: http://www.latimes.com [Accessed 28/03/2017].

FOTTRELL, Q. (2016) How Job Recruiters Screen You on Linkedin. Marketwatch, 16^th June. Available from: http://www.marketwatch.com [Accessed 28/03/2017].

GREENFIELD, S. (2004) Tomorrow’s People; How 21^st-Century Technology is Changing the Way We Think and Feel. London: Penguin Books.

INKSON, K., et al. (2001) The Interim Manager: Prototype of the 21^st Century Worker? Human Relations, 54(3), pp.259-284.

JOHANSSON, A. (2015) The 15 Best Freelance Websites to Find Jobs. Entrepreneur, 12^th May. Available from: http://www.entrepreneur.com [Accessed 28/03/2017].

KLAIR, A. (2016) Employment is at Record Levels – So What’s the Problem? Touchstone, 08^th April. Available from: http://www.touchstone.blog.org.uk [Accessed 28/03/2017].

LANZOLLA, G. and ANDERSON, J. (2008) Digital Transformation. Business Strategy Review, 19(2), pp.72-76

MAYNARD, A.D. (2015) Navigating the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Nature Nanotechnology, 10(12), pp.1005-1006.

NONAKA, I. and TAEKUCHI, H. (1995) The Knowledge-Creating Company; How Japanese Companies Create the Dynamics of Innovation. New York: Oxford University Press.

NOON, M., et al. (2013) The Realities of Work; Experiencing Work and Employment in Contemporary Society. 4^th ed. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

OECD (2015) OECD Digital Economic Outlook 2015. Paris: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

PICK, J.B. and SARKAR, A. (2015) The Roles and Policies of Governments. In: PICK, J.B. and SARKAR, A. The Global Digital Divides; Explaining Change. Berlin: Springer Link, pp.337-356.

SMITH, D. (2006) Exploring Innovation. Berkshire: McGraw-Hill.

WANG, Q. (2013) Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants; Towards a Model of Digital Fluency. Business & Information System Engineering, 5(6), pp.409-418.

WEF (2016) The Future of Jobs; Employment, Skills and Workforce Strategy for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Geneva: World Economic Forum.

WEF (2017) Digital Transformation Initiative; Unlocking $100 Trillion for Business and Society from Digital Transformation. Geneva: World Economic Forum.

WONG, Y.C., et al. (2009) Tackling the Digital Divide. British Journal of Social Work, 39(4), pp.754-767.

Creative Economy

Screen Policy in South Korea: From Avoiding Cultural Imperialism to Being Cultural Imperialist

03:33

“This movie is worth the sales of 1.5 million Hyundai Sonata sedans.”

-Kim Young-sam, Former President of South Korea as cited in Parc, 2016

A scene from Oldboy, my favourite South Korean movie
(Source: www.criticalcommons.org)

INTRODUCTION

The previous quote perfectly depicts how huge the worldwide market for screen industry is. It implies that South Korean government is fully aware that the screen industries, as one sector of the creative industries, may significantly contribute to the nation’s wealth. On the other hand, public policy and economic development strategy in South Korea have been through some massive changes across the decades before it gained its current status as an emerging market. Moreover, it is even crowned as the 7^th largest exporter in the world (Taranukha, 2016). Considering these facts, South Korea is an interesting case study in the screen industry.

This essay acts as a retrospective review of several screen policies in South Korea. It starts from 1945, right after the Japanese occupancy period, up to the recent 2010s with the policies’ main objectives to adapt and harness the utmost advantages of the globalisation era. The scope of the screen policies that will be reviewed are policies related to television program and film. Furthermore, the aim of this essay is to examine the pros and cons throughout the implementation of the policies.

The structure of this essay begins with the definition of globalisation and its impact on less developed countries, where the discourse of cultural imperialism arises to the discussion. Thereafter, it is followed by a review of South Korean’s screen policies. The review is arranged on a sequential time frame that illustrates the creative economy development in South Korea, which consists of: (1) stagnant period; (2) infant period; and (3) thriving period.

GLOBALISATION AND CULTURAL IMPERIALISM

Ozekin and Arioz (2014) defines globalisation as an integrated economic system with interconnected market across countries. There should be no time, space, and trade barriers thus the cultural goods can move freely in the market (Hesmondhalgh, 2013). This barriers’ compression is expected to bring consumer closer with the goods in faster interval. It also means that there will be cross-cultural distribution, consumption, and even production in forms of collaborative projects between multi-corporations. Therefore, in its best practice, globalisation can be perceived as ‘global interdependence that unites us all’ (Tomlinson, 1996, p.24).

Until this time, United States of America (USA) is considered as a dominant superpower country, which leads to the association of the term globalisation with ‘Americanisation’ or ‘Westernisation’ (Tomlinson, 1996, p.26). Other recurring terms such as ‘McDonaldisation’ (Ritzer, 1996, p.1) and ‘Coca-colonisation’ (Wagnleitner, 1994, p.1) link the concept with two of the most popular mass goods owned by American companies. That is why, even though the concept of globalisation is supposed to benefit each and every country, the actual practice is merely one-sided. It is because of the ability of the USA to exports its cultural goods to numerous countries, especially the previously colonised countries, while the other countries fail to export their cultural goods and penetrate the market in the USA (Jin, 2007). Technically, it means that the preeminent market will keep growing while the others weakened. In the case of the screen industry, the domination of the USA can be seen from the worldwide box office report. According to the list below, the top 10 of the best-selling films is all from the USA with the total foreign market sales higher than the domestic market sales (BOM, 2017).

Worldwide Box Office (BOM, 2017)

In my perspective, USA became a dominant country because it is endowed with the advantage of English as the universal language, political domination since World War 2, large domestic market as a support system, and the presence of highly skilled cultural workers and leading edge creative infrastructures that are largely based on the country. As a result, American culture is presumed as a threat that pervades other nations’ indigenous local values, customs, and commons (Bullock and Stallybrass, 1977). This phenomenon is known as cultural imperialism.

Ever since the 1960s, the term has been widely used in many books and other scholarly publications related to cultural consumption (Tomlinson, 1991). According to Cambridge Dictionary (n.d.), imperialism means ‘a system in which a country rules other countries, sometimes having used force to get power over them.’ Nevertheless, in contemporary life, the power is not always reinforced by physical force, but by cultural goods or soft power which are likely to be unconsciously immersed in the consumers’ lifestyle.

This is in line with the opinion from Williams (1983) which divides the practice of imperialism into two approaches, namely a political system and an economic system. The term imperialism in this essay is imperialism in the context of the economic system, thus it will also be related to the notion of modernity, capitalism, and consumerism (Tomlinson, 1991). It means that mass-produced goods and popular culture are the main subject of the discourse. They induce homogenisation in consumers’ preference with the aid of multinational and transnational corporations. For Tomlinson (1991), this can be considered as a harmful impact of globalisation because it steers the cultural diversities across countries to possess one universal identity and lose their authenticity.

On the other hand, when the cultural goods are not slavishly accepted, they form hybridisation. Hybridisation ‘accentuates the adaptation and active articulation of global processes with local norms, customs, tastes, needs, and traditions’ (Ryoo, 2009, p.142). The difference is not taken as a threat, but conversely it is celebrated because in contemporary world globalisation is unavoidable. This is another positive view on globalisation even though it is only possible if the cultural identity of the country is firm enough. Additionally, imperialism is considered as an advantage for developed countries since it opens the opportunity to penetrate global market and gain more profit.

In general, in the discourse of cultural imperialism, it is common to discover disagreement of whether this phenomenon is a good or bad thing. However, the answer depends on which perspectives that we choose. Furthermore, cultural imperialism is a relative subject which cannot be generalised under one interpretation. Appadurai (1996, p.32) conveyed that

for people of Irian Jaya, Indonesianisation may be more worrisome than Americanisation, as Japanisation may be for Koreans, Indianisation for Sri Lankans, Vietnamization for Cambodians, Russianisation for the people of Soviet Armenia and the Baltic Republics.

Hence, cultural imperialism is not always about the USA. Sharma (2012) conveyed that the USA is still dominated the world, but as time goes by, there are many developing countries with rapid economic growth rates that will act as strong contender and one of them is South Korea. The situation may resemble the decline of the USA’s economic power, but statistically, it is not. Indeed, it suggests that nowadays it is possible to have more than one superpower country.

SCREEN POLICY IN SOUTH KOREA

Besides the USA, South Korea has another challenge to avoid cultural domination from its neighbouring countries, China and Japan (Ryoo, 2009). To help its domestic industry grow and later spread around the world, the South Korean government decided to do some interventions and one of them is in form of screen policy.

Stagnant Period (before the 1980s)

South Korea was colonised by Japan from 1910 to 1945 and later administered under US Army Military from 1945 to 1948. At the Japanese period, there was a strict censorship and monitoring policy since media is utilised as a propaganda tool to spread political belief. The policy repressed political freedom. Nevertheless, the Japanese colonisation bequeathed film production knowledge and technology to South Korea. At the American period, Hollywood films are directly distributed to South Korea. There were merely a few Korean films produced and it was stopped when the Korean War occurred from 1950 to 1953 (Parc, 2016). After the war ended, the film industry started to raise although there is still no significant development. This is due to the priority of South Korean government to foster manufacturing industries, such as: ‘textile, apparel, food and beverages industries, and later heavy and chemical industries’ rather than creative industries (Kwon and Kim, 2014, p.425).

Then in the 1960s, government intervention in the screen industry began. The screen policy was related to film import quotas which aim to protect its local industry from cultural imperialism. It means that the circulation of foreign film is highly regulated. The foreign film was only permitted to be imported by successful local production house which able to attract a certain amount of audience. The goal of this policy was to trigger competition between production house and create a sustainable system (Parc, 2016). Despite the film-related policy, television drama was still depended on imported content (Jin, 2007).

Unfortunately, the policy did not work as it was originally intended. It encouraged ‘quota quickies’ (Parc, 2016, p.4) principle in the filmmakers. They produced low-quality movies because they acknowledged that they ruled the whole domestic market and they did not have to compete with foreign films. However, they failed to attract consumers because almost all of the local films in the cinema were in poor quality and there were no foreign films to help cinemas to captivate consumers. In addition, the low-quality films could not be exported. Considering the ineffectiveness of the policy finally it was cancelled (Ryoo, 2009).

Infant Period (the 1980s - 1990s)

Earlier in this period, market share for Hollywood films dominated 70-80% of the Korean cinema revenue (Lee and Han, 2006). The significant change happened in the late 1990s because there was a transformation in South Korean public policy. After the Asian economic crisis, the South Korean government chose to put forward creative industries instead of manufacturing industries. This served as a catalyst for South Korean creative industries growth, which consists of television dramas, films, music, manhwa (cartoons and comics), and video games (Kwon and Kim, 2014).

The import quota policy was changed with screen quota policy. Foreign films were accepted in the domestic market to attract wider audiences to the cinema. However, with the screen quota policy, cinema had to screen at least 146 days of domestic films in a year so that South Korean films obtain equal opportunity to compete with foreign films. Moreover, strict censorship is officially abolished in 1996 (Lee, 2006). While there is screen quota for the cinema, the government issued an hourly quota for television channel (Kwon and Kim, 2014).

This policy aimed to assist the growth of the infant industry. When the audiences went to the cinema, it was hoped that they choose domestic films instead of foreign films. After a period of time, the goal was successfully achieved. Chaebols (Korean businessman) begun to established cinemas and multiplexes since there was high demand from the audiences as well as produced films. They were also allowed to accomplish business cooperation with foreign corporations. They adopted the ‘integrated system of production covering financing, producing, distributing, and exhibiting movies’ (Parc, 2016, p.8). Hollywood had inspired Korean filmmakers in terms of movie production process and content such as genre and artistic style, thus the quality of the films was continuously improved. Moreover, with the help digitalisation as a new medium for distribution, it was easier to penetrate the global market (Kim, 2004; Nam, 2013).

Considering the positive impacts, the policy was fully accepted by the South Koreans although it was trickier for the Americans. The USA’s film producers had to formulate a strategy over the best schedule to release the films so the premiere date will not clash with other Korean or Hollywood blockbusters, thus the ticket sales will be higher (Lee and Han, 2006). Nevertheless, a research by Parc (2016) found out that the policy is not directly tied to the increase in audiences. The policy is more successful to initiate healthy competition between film-makers and chaebols as the owner of the investment to produce a better quality film which will engage more audiences as consequence.

Thriving Period (the 2000s – Now)

In order to catalyse the development of the screen industry, Korean government issued additional policy related to subsidy and tax exemption for Korean production house. For example, direct subsidies scheme for small and medium size enterprises producers (Parc, 2016). It also built infrastructures such as High Digital Production Centre and Digital Magic Studio which function as a film studio, broadcasting studio, and digital archive (Kwon and Kim, 2014). Combined with the improved living standard and development of information and communication technology, screen industry in South Korea headed as a mature industry.

In the meantime, there are 4 countries that produce more than 400 films each year, namely India (1288 films), USA (751 films), China (456 films), and Japan (448 films). They can be categorised as super producers of the screen industry. The position of South Korea in the film production landscape is as super producers with approximately 138 films produced each year in 2009 (Crane, 2014). Supported by the previous screen quota policy, South Korea is one of the few countries which has a higher market share for domestic films. The market share is stable at approximately 60%, while the foreign film has 40% of the market (Lee and Han, 2006). The trend can be seen in the table below, with a bold title for Korean films. Furthermore, related to the television program, 40% of the program is required to be from independent producers so that the industry flourish (Parc, 2016).

South Korean Box Office (KOFIC, 2017)

At this period, domestic screen industry is getting mature. Audience chooses domestic films voluntarily without further instruction, which is portrayed in the box office hit sales throughout the years (KOFIC, 2017). Jin (2007) even stated that nowadays cultural imperialism is no longer intervening the Korean market. That is why the South Korean government decided to take further action to expand its market and constituted export-orientated screen policy. The government established Cultural Product Trade Division in Ministry of Culture (Kwon and Kim, 2014). Since the export policy was launched, South Korean cultural goods, or prominently known as Korean Wave (Hallyu), gradually spread to Asia and lately Europe and USA. The export policy is essential for South Korea since it has a small amount of citizen, unlike the USA with the huge domestic market. Thereby, it must embrace consumer from foreign countries to acquire greater sales (Hong, 2014).

In the meantime, South Korea has replaced cultural goods from USA and Japan which previously dominated Asian market, especially in East and Southeast Asia (Ryoo, 2009). Broadening the market to Asian market is easier since there is ‘cultural discount’ (Kim, 2004, p.2009). It means that the audiences have a relatively similar cultural background so they can relate to the content and influence their preference. For example, the American culture of violence and sex which often portrayed in its films are not closely tied to Eastern cultural value. That is why South Korean screen industries have added-value in Asia. Besides, when more economically advanced country aims to broaden its market, the easiest strategy is to penetrate less-developed countries, because there is no significant challenge. However, with this expanded market, South Korea transform into cultural imperialist that may endanger local cultures in Indonesia, Malaysia, or Taiwan (Nam, 2013).

Consequently, it gives some drawbacks for the USA and it must reinforce its position as the leading exporters of cultural goods. The South Korean government received high pressure from the USA to abolish the screen quota system because it violates the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations. The pressure caused a dispute between 3 different ministries, namely: (1) Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism; (2) Ministry of Strategy and Finance; and (3) Ministry of Foreign Affair. Even though the USA deemed the screen quota to be completely erased, in the end, the quota was merely reduced because South Korea still need the policy (Chang, 2014). In 2006, the screen quota was cut from 146 days to 73 days. As a compensation, South Korea permitted the USA to established branch offices of multinational corporations and reduced foreign films fees from 700 million to 50 million won (Lee, 2006).

Another reinforcement strategy from the USA is to remake foreign films. For instance, USA adapted these South Korean Movies: (1) ‘Il Mare’ as ‘The Lake House’; (2) ‘The Tale of Two Sisters’ as ‘The Uninvited’; and (3) Oldboy with the same title (Kotzathananis, 2016). Nevertheless, they often receive unsatisfactory review because they diminish the real essence of the film (Crane, 2014). In addition, production houses from the USA started to invest in South Korean production house and collaborate to produce the television programs. For instance, the affiliation of Nickelodeon with JEI, Discovery Channel with Q Channel, and CNBC with MBN. Besides the USA, other countries decided to accomplish this strategy too, such as the affiliation of KBS with CCTV from China and MCC with TVS from Japan to form hybridisation between two cultures (Jin, 2007).

CONCLUSION

All in all, the effect of globalisation is unavoidable, thus every country must formulate a strategy to overcome the disadvantage (e.g. cultural imperialism, homogenisation) and earn the advantage (e.g. wider consumer, intercultural collaboration). Furthermore, globalisation is an important aspect of introducing cultural goods across nation and exchange culture, hence people can learn to appreciate the beauty of cultural diversity.

In relation to South Korea’s case, before a country determines to penetrate global market, the government have to make sure that the domestic market is firm enough. It is because when a country export cultural goods to other countries, there has to be a reciprocity agreement between the countries that permit two-way exchange of cultural goods. If a country protects its market from imported cultural goods, it means that there is uneven competition and it will prevent the country to export its domestic cultural goods.

Therefore, the most vital thing is not avoiding globalisation and completely banned foreign goods from local markets – which proved to be ineffective in South Korea case – but to fortify local industry by providing stimulus (e.g. fair quota, investment, infrastructure) to enhance the quality of the goods which will spark competitive market structure (Ryoo, 2009). If consumer preference is already drawn to the local product, strict protectionist screen policy is not required since it is not relevant anymore with the aim to reduce competition (Parc, 2016).

DISCLAIMER

This is an essay for Creative Lives Assignment for Creative Industries and Cultural Policy Course at the University of Glasgow. Please provide proper citation if you use this as reference.

REFERENCES

APPADURAI, A. (1996) Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

BOM (2017) Yearly Box Office. [Online] Box Office Mojo. Available from: http://www.boxofficemojo.com [Accessed 15/02/17].

BULLOCK, A. and STALLYBRASS, O. (1977) The Fontana Dictionary of Modern Thought. London: Fontana Books.

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CHANG, A.R. (2014) The Effect of Foreign Pressure on Liberal Policy Autonomy: The Case of South Korea’s Screen Quota System. International Review of Public Administration, 19(1), pp.1-22.

CRANE, D. (2014) Cultural Globalization and the Domination of the American Film Industry: Cultural Policies, National Film Industries, and Transnational Film. International Journal of Cultural Policy, 20(4), pp.365-382.

DAVIES, R. and SIGTHORSSON, G. (2013) Introducing the Creative Industries; From Theory to Practice. London: SAGE Publications.

HESMONDHALGH, D. (2013) The Cultural Industries. 3^rd ed. London: SAGE Publications.

HONG, E. (2014) The Birth of Korean Cool: How One Nation is Conquering the World Through Pop Culture. New York: Picador USA.

JIN, D.Y. (2007) Reinterpretation of Cultural Imperialism; Emerging Domestic Market Vs Continuing US Dominance. Media, Culture & Society, 29(5), pp.753-771.

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Creative Economy

The Impact of Creative Industries on A Nation's Wider Economy (Case Study: Game of Thrones on Northern Ireland)

17:35

1. INTRODUCTION

The three highest contributing creative industries in the United Kingdom (UK) sectors are (1) publishing; (2) advertising; and (3) television & radio (DCMS, 2011). However, the global creative industry research proves that television sectors produce the highest revenue of all the sectors with the annual total of $ 477 billion in 2013 (EY, 2015). In order to gain sharper insight about the socioeconomic impact, this paper narrows down the focus to the most emerging industries, which is television and specify the context to television series. To compliment the research, a case study of Game of Thrones (GOT) television series and its impact on Northern Ireland will be examined.

The aim of this research is to understand the relationship between creative industries, cultural policy, and their wider socioeconomic impact to a country. The aim is equipped with 3 research questions: (1) what are the cultural policies issued by Northern Ireland’s government to support GOT industry; (2) what are the impacts of GOT industry to Northern Ireland; and (3) how does the application of the chosen cultural policies influence the resulting impacts?

To build a theoretical framework, a literature review is conducted in subjects related to the impact of creative industries from books and academic journals. As for the research, the primary data is gathered from the open data of governments’ policy documents, mainly from Northern Ireland Screen (NIS), Northern Ireland Tourism (NIT), and Discover Northern Ireland (DNI).

This paper is structured as follows. Firstly, several interrelated theories will be discussed as a knowledge base for further research. Secondly, some critical information related to Game of Thrones and Northern Ireland’s history will be described to illustrate the case’s background. Thirdly, the data findings in the cultural policies of Northern Ireland will be explained, which include policies in (1) funding; (2) skill-building; (3) marketing; and (4) city branding. Fourthly, the findings will be analysed to unveil various impacts of the television series industry. The analysis comprises of these impacts: (1) screen tourism; (2) urban regeneration; and (3) employment. Lastly, in the conclusion, the connection between the cultural policies and the impacts will be summarised.

2. CREATIVE INDUSTRIES AS ECONOMIC GROWTH CATALYST

The idea of creative industries as a part of UK government’s plans and policies was introduced by Tony Blair in 1997 with the establishment of Creative Industries Task Force (CITF) as a project of UK DCMS. Since then, the creative industries development in the UK has been showing significant impact in terms of national economic growth. DCMS (2011) noted that the annual growth rates of the creative economy are twice higher than the traditional economy, hence it possesses the high potential to be developed as a source of a nation’s wealth in the future.

To measure the growth of creative industries in a specific term, DCMS (1998; 2011) mapped the creative industries into 13 sectors based on the output. It is important to notice that beside DCMS, there are other think tanks and researchers who criticised current sectors’ division and proposed another theory, such as Nesta (2006), The Work Foundation (2007), UNCTAD (2008); Throsby (2001) Hesmondhalgh (2007), and Flew (2012). Mainly, they argued that some subjects must be included or excluded from the creative industries.

For instance, Flew (2012) claimed that galleries, libraries, archives, and museums should be included in the creative industries’ segments because they are part of cultural institutions, while Hesmondhalgh (2007) stated the urge to include tourism. In spite of those arguments, DCMS is the only one who has succeeded to measure the detailed growth of creative industries in each sector as illustrated below. The highlighted industries produced the three highest Gross Value Added in 2009. Furthermore, the blank space is originally from the document which indicates the unavailability of intended data.

Table 1. Economic Contribution of the UK's Creative Industries
(DCMS, 2011)

DCMS (2011, p.6) measured the creative industries growth based on 5 factors: ‘(1) Gross Value Added (GVA); (2) total exports; (3) employment; (4) creative enterprises; and (5) creative local units’. This method of measurement is in line with similar theory from Daubaraite and Startiene (2015, p.130). Moreover, they added other non-tangible impacts of creative industries, namely: ‘(1) social inclusion; (2) social and cultural development; and (3) increasing quality of life’. Measuring these non-tangible impacts need a qualitative rather than quantitative approach, therefore it is harder to justify the success.

Apart from the outstanding achievement of creative industries itself, there is some discussion related to the creative industries’ impacts on the wider national economic wealth in growth model theory (Garnham, 2005; Potts and Cunningham, 2008) and the creative people as the main drivers of contemporary economic growth (Florida, 2002). In regard to these theories, creative industries are hypothesised to generate the spill-over effect (Lee, 2014). Beside internal growth, it acts as a growth catalyst for other non-creative industries too. In such way, creative industries development is not only suitable for the richest countries. On the contrary, developing creative industries will influence the whole nation’s economy to thrive and prosper. Lee (2014, p.455) simplified this in his three channels theory, which declares:

(1) creative industries are attractive simply as growth sector […]; (2) creative industries may increase productivity in other sectors […]; and (3) creative industries may have an amenity value and attract skilled residents or, more prosaically, tourist.

The wider impact of creative industries is also related to the growth of employment, whether it is inside or outside the field. This is caused by what Higgs and Cunningham (2008, p. 15) observed as the ‘creative trident’. The concept classifies employment in creative industries into 3 clusters:

(1) workers with cultural profession working in cultural sectors; (2) workers having a cultural profession but working outside the cultural sector; and (3) workers having a non-cultural profession and working in the cultural sector.

This concept explains that the occupation in creative industries is not solely for creative people, but it is able to attract workers from the supporting field and harness the empowerment of human capital. Before this approach was popularised, there was a confusion related how to measure the total creative occupations since the impact is wider than the creative industries itself, which backs up the previous growth model theory.

Furthermore, Potts (2007) asserted that the growth model is related with the evolutionary economics theory. As a part of a ‘knowledge economy’ (Cunningham, 2002, p.55), creative industries deal with ‘origination, adaptation, and retention of novel ideas’ (Potts, 2007, p.1). That is why the subject of creative industries is always changing and shaping economic landscape. It is able to foster the diffusion of innovation and technology; thus it strengthens the implementation of the evolutionary economics theory and vice versa. All of the theoretical frameworks of creative industries as growth catalyst will be demonstrated in this paper through the case study.

3. THE GAME OF THRONES INDUSTRY

GOT is a flagship epic television series produced by Home Box Office (HBO), an American premium television network. It is directed by George Benioff and D B. Weiss and the plot is adapted from a fantasy literature series entitled A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin. The first book was published in 1996, but the series recently hit the screen in 2011. Since then, HBO has produced 6 seasons of GOT which comprises of 10 episodes for each season. GOT is planned to be continued until season 8 which will be aired later in 2018. However, due to the international success and high viewers’ demand, it possible to do a spinoff series after the show ends (Millward, 2016).

With the budget of approximately more than £ 6 million per episode, GOT can afford to be filmed in various European countries, such as Northern Ireland, Ireland, Scotland, Iceland, Spain, Croatia, and Morocco. The extraordinary budget is also utilised to produce high-quality costumes, properties, and visual effects (Garofalo, 2014). Nevertheless, GOT gains higher profits, ratings, and global brands that can be applied in licensed creative industries such as merchandises and musical scores’ CD.

GOT is aired worldwide and succeeded to engage more than 8,89 million viewers in its latest episode. From the graph below, it can be seen that there is a significant increase in viewers’ number among the years, not including the number of viewers who watch the series from pirated files or illegal websites.

Chart 1. GOT's Viewers Growth
(Wikipedia, 2016)

Furthermore, the quantity of viewer equals with the quality of the series. Since the first instalment, GOT has been acting as a strong contender in numerous awards related to the television program. In 2016 Emmy Awards, GOT is nominated in 24 categories which spanned from actors, visual effect, to musical score, and won 12 of them, including the prestigious the best drama series title (Bakare, 2016).

In my perspective, Game of Thrones is highly appealing due to its ability to subtly portray medieval history embedded with strong details and unpredictable story line. GOT portrays wide aspects such as geographical detail, politic, religion, and language. These aspects make the stories seem real, believable, and tease the fan base to build theories upon them. Moreover, some events in GOT is connected with real world history. For instance, the black water bay battle scene has similar war tactic with the siege of Constantinople in 717 (Bond, 2015). The whole plot of GOT itself is said to be depicted the 15^th century England’s war of the roses (Tharoor, 2015).

A lot of people assumed that GOT is a British series because it employs almost all British actors. Besides that, the production process and indoor shooting are mainly accomplished at Titanic Studios (formerly known as the Paint Hall Studios), in Belfast, Northern Ireland. However, the UK does not own GOT franchise since it is owned by HBO. But even though GOT is owned by an American company, its impacts to the UK is as enormous as it did in the USA.

4. 'THE TROUBLES' OF NORTHERN IRELAND

The country of Northern Ireland is unified with England, Wales, and Scotland in the UK. From the beginning of its establishment in 1920, Northern Ireland had experienced numerous conflicts with the Republic of Ireland and the UK alongside with its status as a post-industrialist country. As for the recent conflict, which often addressed as ‘the troubles’, it lasted for 30 years from 1968 to 1998. Looking at current Northern Ireland’s condition, it is hard to believe that the perennial political conflict has only been resolved recently in 1998.

At that time, there was a dispute between the majority unionist Protestant and minority nationalist Catholic. The difference between religion make ‘the troubles’ seem like religion conflict, but it is basically a territorial conflict. During that period, there was some notable event such as Derry Bloody Sunday in 1972 and Dumcree standoff in 1996. The constant clash throughout the year resulted in approximately 3,500 deaths, more than 50,000 injuries, and broken infrastructures which often caused by bombing (Dorney, 2015).

‘The troubles’ was ended with the good Friday agreement in 1998. But even after it was ended, Northern Ireland government requires time to repair the damage that had been done. According to Buchanan (2014), ‘the troubles’ caused the poor economic condition, high unemployment rate, educational disadvantage, poverty, and social exclusion. Furthermore, Northern Ireland was also affected by the 2007 global debt crisis, thus the redevelopment phase was more challenging. There are some policies related to the social and economic development, but this paper will specify on GOT’s related cultural policy to help it transform into a prosperous country.

5. NORTHERN IRELAND'S CULTURAL POLICY ON GAME OF THRONES' PRODUCTION

While most of the countries and cities focus on the creative business support type of policy which target start-ups and micro-businesses (Foord, 2009), Northern Ireland has a different approach. Theoretically, there are several types of public interventions:

(1) property and premises strategies; (2) business development, advice, and network building; (3) direct grants and loans schemes to creative business/entrepreneurs; (4) fiscal initiatives; (5) physical and IT infrastructure; and (6) soft Infrastructure (Foord, 2009, p.97).

From the desk research, it can be concluded that Northern Ireland’s cultural policy focuses on the 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th type of interventions. Northern Ireland Screen (NIS), a governmental body engaged in film and television policy, targeted the country to be ‘the first-class film and television production location’ (NIS, 2016, p.34). That is why the main policy is to fortify its funding capability and creative workers’ skills. The policy is included in NIS’ short-term development plan for 2015 to 2016 entitled the Opening Doors which works on social, economic, and cultural factors. Another policy related to marketing and city branding are adapted to alter the country’s past images. Furthermore, all cultural policies in Northern Ireland are guaranteed to be relevant to its public policies from related department such as Northern Ireland Executive Economic Strategy, Invest NI Corporate Plan, Department for Culture Arts and Leisure Corporate Plan, and Northern Ireland Tourism Strategy (NIS, 2014).

5.1 Funding

Chart 2. Funding and Expenditure on GOT
(NIS, 2016)

Apart from the production house and sponsors, Game of Thrones is partially funded by Northern Ireland Screen and Invest Northern Ireland. The funding is a part of their program to foster creative industries growth in Northern Ireland. From the chart above, it can be seen that the investment is decreasing while the expenditure is increasing throughout the years. However, the investment and expenditure in 2016 is an estimation since the production process of GOT season 7 is still in progress.

The expenditure in the chart represents the amount of money that was spent in Northern Ireland during the production process. For example, the expenditure is used to cover accommodation, transportation, and lunch among the local area. From 2010 to 2016, NIS has been granting HBO with a total investment of £ 14.85 million, merely 7% of the £ 166 million total expenditures (NIS, 2016) which is profitable for Northern Ireland’s economy. The main investment is given in a form of tax incentive. Besides that, Titanic Studios, which is the main production studio of GOT, gave HBO lower price than the other users because it weights the advantage of the GOT’s large production scale for the future development of Northern Ireland’s industry.

For the upcoming years, especially when the GOT production is over, NIS and Northern Ireland Investment (NII) are pitching the whole package of the island and studios with an interesting funding scheme to other large-scale productions. In addition, besides GOT, in the recent years Northern Ireland works with the production of The Frankenstein Chronicle, The Lodge, and My Mother and Other Strangers (NIS, 2016).

5.2. Skill-building

Skill-building is a part of soft infrastructure advancement. As a grand production, GOT demands an excessive amount of creative workers. However, HBO cannot employ people carelessly. Creative workers require a special skill set to assist the production process. To fulfil the demand, NIS (2016) initiated skill-building workshops for the local people. It selected some trainees and put them as apprentices in GOT television series production. There are 4 departments as follows.

Table 2. GOT's Skull-building Workshops
(NIS, 2016)

This program is intended to establish creative class as the key actor of creative industries (Florida, 2002). With the rise of the creative class, the creative industries ecosystem will attract more creative workers to initiate a business or creative production in Northern Ireland because it has a solid support system. To illustrate, it will be expensive and ineffective to accomplish a film production in one country but most of the professional workers have to be brought from another country. Moreover, creative workers are highly flexible occupation because they often get a short-term contract. That is why investing in creative workers means to give them the opportunity to work anywhere around the world and expand their network.

5.3 Marketing

One of Northern Ireland’s new marketing program is to promote Northern Ireland as the real Westeros, the main continent in GOT series (DNI, n.d.). This approach was also undertaken by New Zealand to promote its country as the real-life Middle Earth from The Lord of the Rings trilogy (Tzanelli, 2004). The places that were operated as a shooting location, is transformed into country’s landmarks by a collaborative project from Northern Ireland Tourism (NIT) and Discover Northern Ireland (DNI). It built an information panel at each location to give visitors a brief information about the place and its role in GOT’s story line. NIT also provides well-designed interactive filming location map that can be accessed through NIT’s official website or downloaded for free to the smartphone via Google Playstore or Appstore. The map is also equipped with a 360-degree panoramic picture of the location’s scenery.

Figure 1. GOT's Information Panel in Ballintoy Harbour
(Visit Belfast, n.d.)

The latest GOT related program was launched in early 2016 by DNI (2016), called the Doors of Thrones (DOT). DOT is a series of GOT-themed hand-carved wooden doors that are placed around Northern Ireland. The doors are intentionally placed in bars or restaurants near GOT’s shooting location. The idea was started when the Storm Gertrude tore down several trees at the Dark Hedges – which is also a spot for GOT’s shooting – in 2015. DNI decided to transform the trees into a unique artefact to remind the local people and tourists about GOT. Currently, there is a total of 10 doors in Northern Ireland. Some of the locations are Strangford, Portaferry, Ballintoy, Cushendun, and Belfast. This program can be perceived as a gamification marketing strategy for urban people. Gamification is a strategy to engage customers or audiences in a fun mission to achieve something, just like a game (Reiners and Wood, 2015). With the presence of GOT, a lot of people voluntarily go to the restaurants just to take pictures with all the doors.

Figure 2. Doors of Thrones in Fullerton Arms Restaurant, Ballintoy
(TNI, 2016)

5.4 City Branding

Figure 3. Visit Belfast Logo
(Visit Belfast, n.d.)

Other policy which is not directly related with GOT but affected the socioeconomic development is the city branding in Belfast, the capital city of Northern Ireland (Coleman, 2008). The new logo and branding were officiated by Belfast City Council in 2008 at a public event in Waterfront Hall. It embodies the heart shape and the alphabet B to promote Belfast as a vibrant city and rebuild its identity as a post-conflict city. Besides that, the objective of the branding is to attract international visitors and investors.

6. GAME OF THRONES' IMPACTS FOR NORTHERN IRELAND

From the cultural policies that were taken by Northern Ireland government, there are several stands out impacts. Nevertheless, it is possible that there are many other impacts that can be discovered through further research.

6.1 Screen Tourism

Figure 4. Northern Ireland Official Map for GOT's Tours
(DNI, n.d.)

In this essay, the terminology screen tourism is chosen rather than film tourism, regarding its capacity to cover tourism which was induced by both film and television series. The content of screen tourism mostly comprises of visiting the actual shooting scene and doing activities related to the film. Other than that, some screen tourism can include a visit to studio sets, film-themed theme parks, film festivals, film premieres, or even to the actors’ house (Connell, 2012). In GOT case, there are more than 15 shooting locations around Northern Ireland that can be visited by the tourists, such as The Dark Hedges, Ballintoy Harbour, Cushendun Caves, Cairncastle, and Shillanavoghy Valley. The activities in GOT’s screen tourism include horse-riding, archery, and rowing in a dragon boat (Visit Belfast, n.d.).

The advantage of screen tourism compared with conventional tourism is, it requires less promotion. There is a precursor film or TV series that is already popular and has loyal audiences, hence it is easier to penetrate the market. Furthermore, Tzanelli (2004) stated that film franchise helped open up new markets which previously unreachable by the conventional tourism industry. For instance, a trekking at Tollymore Forest Park will not be appealing for those who do not like outdoor sports. But with Game of Thrones, this kind of people may go there as a fan of GOT with a desire to immerse themselves in the experience. Furthermore, screen tourism deals with a more personal and emotional experience.

The popularity of screen tourism in Northern Ireland boost the growth of tour companies, whether it is a government official or independent, but none of them is affiliated with HBO. Some of the independent tour companies that provide GOT-related tours are Game of Thrones Tours, Winterfell Tours, Brit Movie Tours, and McComb’s Coach Travel. Even though there is still no data that illustrates the correlation between the growth of tourism and the GOT tours, the diagram below portrays the rise of tourists in Northern Ireland, especially from out of state.

Chart 3. Northern Ireland's Tourist Growth
(TNI, 2016)

6.2 Urban Regeneration

Urban regeneration is a program to revive the triumph of the post-industrial country by rebuilding physical infrastructure. Even though this is a top-down approach, the main target of the program is to empower the grassroots community by providing them facility (Weaver, 2001). The main program entitled the urban regeneration community development is managed by Northern Ireland’s Department for Social Development (DSD, 2012, p.14). The regeneration programs cover a wide area and one of them is creative infrastructure. It is covered in its policy objective number 2 which is ‘to strengthen the competitiveness of our towns and cities’.

Most of cities and countries emphasise the development of creative industries clusters in their development program to attract creative class (Flew, 2012), but Northern Ireland chose to maximise the impact of the on-going production of GOT. In its Opening Door strategy (NIS, 2014), Northern Ireland plans to build 2 new sound stages as the extension of the Titanic Studio and establish Belfast Harbour Studio in the Giant’s Park.

Moreover, looking at the success of the Titanic Museum that exploits the movie Titanic and its relation to the ship-building history by Harland and Wolff (Ramsey, 2013), it is possible that in the future Northern Ireland will establish the Game of Thrones Museum.

6.3 Employment

The chart below describes that the number of unemployment in Northern Ireland is gradually decreasing. It is safe to assumed that the reduction is fostered by the GOT production that needs 900 full-time workers and 5,700 part-time workers for each season (Moloney, 2015) with 80% crew hired locally from Northern Ireland area (Dawtrey, 2011).

Chart 4. Northern Ireland's Unemoployment Reduction
(NISRA, 2016)

The type of the creative workers is very diverse and specific since the production itself involves many properties and stage sets. One of the success creative workers that started her business from working with Game of Thrones is Ingrid Houwer (Meredith, 2014). She has been working as a taxidermist for ages, but her recent acknowledgement is because she provides large-scale production of costumes and set properties for GOT.

Furthermore, the needed workers are not only from the creative field but also in hospitality services such as bed and breakfast and restaurants, thus it proves the existence of the spill-over effect. It is likely that the numbers of this hospitality services will keep increasing in line with the growth of tourists. In relation to the creative trident theory, workers such as drivers or mechanics in the production can be classified into non-cultural profession in cultural sector category.

Besides that, a huge production like GOT which often portrays a battle scene with many armies need an excessive amount of extras to be employed. The official recruitment for GOT’s extras and other productions which are located in Northern Ireland is organised by one agency namely Extras Northern Ireland. The company has a partnership with prominent television channels such as HBO, BBC, and Universal (Extras NI, n.d.). In my opinion, this service represents the good management of Northern Ireland government in embracing the most of the creative industries’ benefits.

7. CONCLUSION

As a post-conflict country, Northern Ireland strengthened its cultural policy as a part of its strategy to accelerate its socioeconomic development. In relation to the case study, it has been offering HBO a profitable collaborative scheme since the very first production of GOT. It succeeded in forecasting the benefit of the long-term investment in GOT because it believes in the growth model theory (Garnham, 2005; Potts and Cunningham, 2008) and spill-over impact (Lee, 2014) of creative industries to other fields.

Furthermore, this case is able to prove that those theories are relevant to the real world application. If Northern Ireland failed to grab the opportunity and did not emphasise its creative policies, it is possible that the appearance of the impacts will not be this massive. In other words, the policy acts as a win-win solution for both the country and the production house.

In addition, the impacts of screen tourism, urban regeneration, and employment will be a legacy to the Northern Ireland. The tangible (e.g. production studios) and non-tangible (e.g. skilled employees) benefits of these impacts will continue to thrive even after the GOT ends because the bigger goal is to transform Northern Ireland as the best country for screen production. Finally, the findings from this research are hoped to inspire other less developed countries to include creative industries development as their governments’ long-term plan and start to invest in them.

DISCLAIMER

This is an essay for CICP Assignment for Creative Industries and Cultural Policy Course at the University of Glasgow. Please provide proper citation if you use this as reference.

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