The Rhineland Capitalism model, also known as the Rhineland model, was proposed by Michel Albert, a French economist and former president of a French insurance company. The “Rhineland” here is the name of an old European region, also known as the “Left Bank of the Rhine”, which is now the middle reaches of the Rhine in Germany, including the North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate . From the name of the “Rhineland” model, we can know that the source of this model is Germany, which is also represented by Germany, and also includes some other countries along the Rhine River.
In the current world, we can clearly see that the developed areas of the leisure and tourism industries are obviously concentrated in developed areas such as Europe, the United States, Japan, and Australia. In a simple summary, they are basically located in developed capitalist areas, and they also happen to be RVs. And the area with the most developed camping industry. In contrast, after years of development, the overall scale of my country’s tourism industry is undoubtedly very large in the world, but returning to the individual, it is obvious that the Chinese people’s intention and investment in leisure tourism undoubtedly still has a huge impact. potential. As for China’s RV camping industry, although investment institutions and investors from the central government to local governments and all walks of life are fully promoting it. After more than ten years of development, it is obvious that the participation of individual citizens is not as expected. As enthusiastic as they are, the development speed of the industry has not reached the blowout state expected by the industry insiders. So how to explain this phenomenon, this article will conduct a certain discussion from the social development model.
Three Typical Models of Capitalist Development
Since the most developed areas of the leisure industry and RV camping industry are in the capitalist area, let’s first discuss the three typical models of capitalism:
Anglo-American capitalism (Anglo-Saxon model):
This model is typically represented by the United Kingdom and the United States, emphasizing individualism, the enterprise and its shareholders are the center of its system, and the motive of profit is its driving force. Focusing on the value of shareholders without considering other stakeholders, the consequence of this approach is to continuously meet the requirements of dividends, and the investment ability of enterprises is thus weakened. In this model, the social insurance fee is not high, the tax paid by the individual is not much, and the welfare rights enjoyed are limited, so the expenditure on social welfare is the lowest. In order to ensure free movement between different occupations and cost flexibility, this model does not impose regulations on the labor market. Although it can create a large number of employment opportunities, it will cause widespread inequality. However, this model also has merits, such as individual freedom, corporate flexibility, high levels of innovation and the ability to attract internal investment.
Rheinland Capitalism:
This model is characterized by emphasizing the responsibility of the enterprise to its employees, and emphasizing product quality and service as the focus of enterprise competition. Although this model also follows the principles of a market economy, it does not regard the market as the only criterion, but emphasizes that enterprises should not only be responsible for shareholders but also be responsible for employees. Enterprises are not allowed to lower wages at will, so there is very little room for price competition. The focus of competition among enterprises has shifted to product quality and service. Germany is a typical representative of this model, and the normal state of this model is the German model, which focuses on social unity and balance. It is a model that emphasizes state management of economic and administrative organization, and it empowers groups other than shareholders. Under this model, there is a high degree of consensus on the need to preserve social elements in economic policy. The labor side enjoys greater power and can participate in management through the supervisory board and the workers’ committee.
Confucian capitalism (Japanese model):
The third mode of capitalism is often called “populism” because of the high degree of labor participation and the sovereignty of employees in this mode. This model places great value on loyalty, hard work, and collaboration, on “trust, durability, reputation, and cooperation in economic relationships.” The balance of society takes precedence over individual needs. Tacit understanding and tradition are the basis of this system. Businesses know that they have a responsibility to wider society. The important role of the state is to organize industry and formulate a clear strategic industrial policy, but the state does not own productive assets. There are intricate mutual ownership relationships among banks, industries, and companies. This situation not only helps prevent companies from failing, but also reduces the concerns of those who take over companies. Employee participation drives rapid technology updates. The provision of benefits is the responsibility of the private sector and households.
What the Rhine capitalism model brings to society as a whole and individuals is a general sense of security
The German economy is under the Rhineland capitalist model. Factories dare not close down easily, nor can they fire workers at will. They can only train workers technically. German workers have the opportunity to deepen their skills in this relatively stable model environment. This is also the reason why Germany’s products are advanced in technology and able to keep improving while maintaining high prices. The corporate ethics of enterprises being responsible to their employees has been completely institutionalized in Germany. In Germany, there are about 500,000 such employee directors. The trade union is the labor organization, and the capital also forms an alliance of similar enterprises. According to German rules, the wages of similar enterprises must be negotiated by both parties and unified in the same industry.
At the same time, due to the extensive content of the welfare system of the Rhine capitalism model, it is a “protective social means, which can promote social tolerance and enable capitalism to obtain the flexibility it needs without worrying about the development and decline of industries.” social consequences to come”. The decentralization of the political system takes into account the participation of individuals. Labor and management recognize each other’s legitimacy, and enterprises generally have such a sense of cooperation.
Compared with “Anglo-Saxon capitalism” represented by the United Kingdom and the United States, the main core of “Rhenish capitalism” can be summarized as “market economy + overall regulation + social security”, that is, it pays more attention to the government’s market regulation function and social welfare function. and order protection functions. “Rhenish capitalism” is therefore often referred to as “social market economy”, “coordinated market economy” and “sentimental capitalism”. Under this system, employees have stable guarantees in the welfare system such as vacation and social security. Employees will not worry about huge expenses such as unemployment and serious illness education. The social welfare system can basically support these risks. In other words, it brings a general sense of security to the people. In this way, no matter how much they earn or how little they earn, people dare to take out their money for consumption, travel, etc. This can be seen from the German vacation system.
Germany’s “Federal Vacation Law” stipulates that each person is entitled to at least 24 working days of paid vacation per year. In addition to statutory holidays such as New Year, Labor Day, Unity Day, Christmas, Easter and other holidays, there are more than 150 holidays per year. The biggest feature of German vacations is flexibility. Except for German Unity Day on October 3, which is a national statutory holiday in Germany, other holidays are decided by the states themselves. According to German law, people can split and arrange vacation dates according to their actual situation. School holidays are different in 16 German states. Parents can negotiate with employers in advance when to take vacations according to school holidays. Employers will arrange for employees to take scattered vacations according to work needs. This not only ensures the smooth progress of the work, but also implements paid leave for employees. If the employee does not take full leave within one year, the rest of the leave can be taken no later than March of the following year. In addition, the German government encourages people to take paid vacations, and does not provide financial compensation to employees who voluntarily give up paid vacations. In this way, employees will not have too much motivation to work overtime. In contrast, it is better to go on vacation in a down-to-earth manner Suitable.
The core of the difficult rapid development of China’s RV camping industry lies in the general lack of security of the people
Compared with the traditional sightseeing tour in the past few years, the RV tourism in the RV camping industry is mainly characterized by slowing down, driving a RV with family or friends, and going to one or several tourist destinations along the planned route. Either the scenery is beautiful, or the humanistic color is rich, and I have lived a slow life for a period of time, but this kind of lifestyle is difficult to achieve in China at present.
First of all, there are some rigid and congenital factors that restrict the development of the domestic RV camping tourism industry, such as unsuitable policy environment, insufficient number and density of camps, lack of policies for towing RVs on the road, insufficient RV ownership, supporting camp land policies, and different standards in different regions , management is not unified, etc., these are the external surface factors that restrict the development of the industry.
Secondly, the traditional cultural mentality in East Asia has caused employees to feel that if they take too long vacations, they will leave a bad impression on their superiors and colleagues, and they have a strong worry mentality. This is not only in China, but also in the Confucian cultural circle. The same is true of South Korea and Japan. Although they all have a complete vacation system, they cannot guarantee its actual implementation. What’s more, each region and employer actually have the “final right to interpret” vacations. In times of economic downturn, it is good for corporate employers to ensure that workers’ wages are not cut; South Korea ranks first in the proportion of office workers who cannot use all paid holidays. 61% of South Korean office workers are unable to take all paid holidays. Among them, the main reason is conflict with work. 6.3 out of 10 office workers answered that they had postponed or canceled their vacation due to work. The situation that this kind of paid leave cannot be implemented in China is even more serious.
Third, citizens lack a sound welfare system and generally lack a sense of security. As a result, they dare not spend money if they have money. Although China’s social welfare security system has made great progress in recent years, such as unemployment, serious illness, medical care, pensions, etc., from the actual situation, due to the large size of the country and the excessive historical debts, the amount of money that can be provided to the people It is only the most basic guarantee. A serious illness may completely knock a family from the middle class to the poor. What’s more, children’s future education, from kindergarten to university, is waiting for a huge investment. Families cannot function normally, not to mention that many people are still burdened with heavy pressures such as mortgages and car loans. Therefore, the relaxation and vacation of slow life is really a dream for countless people in the country. There is also a profound social background for the development of this industry. It can only be used to take advantage of the country’s statutory holidays and weekends to go out quickly and simply relax. Jump back into the stressful life again. Therefore, every Golden Week, Spring Festival and longer statutory holidays in China will be crowded on a large scale. Behind these appearances is a manifestation of the deep insecurity of the Chinese people.
However, we don’t need to worry too much about this situation. From the rapid development of China in recent years, we can see that the development speed of any industry and industry in China is a process of rapid development. In China, it may be completed in ten or eight years. In recent years, the pursuit of quality of life and product quality is gradually becoming the mainstream of social consumption. Therefore, maybe in the near future, China’s RV camping industry will enter a channel of rapid development.
