Modelling the marriage proposal market

By Ayman Nuhuman

There are many important decisions that define a person’s life. Marriage is one of them. If you are lucky, fate will help you meet that one person who will make you happy. If not, it’s a process of perusing proposals and finding the “right” match. However, there is no correct way of going about this very important, life-changing decision.

This article attempts to apply management concepts to the factors in play in the marriage proposal market. The authorapplies concepts such as the BCG Matrix and (Michael) Porter’s Five Forces analysis in identifying how the marriage proposal market is segmented and the inter-relationships a ‘Marriage Maker’ identifies in bringing two individuals together.

The Marriage Matrix

The Marriage Matrix identifies eligible individuals in the marriage market and attempts to segment them according to their Individualityand Family Brand Equity. Prior to defining the units of the matrix, which is similar to the BCG Matrix,I will first define the relevant axis of the matrix. 

nThe ‘X’ axis represents Family Brand Equity (how well the family is known)

nThe ‘Y’ axis represents Individuality (how well the individual is known)

As we see in the matrix, there is a High and Low ranking for each axis. Based on these rankings in the relevant axis, each unit of the matrix will be explained.

Average Joe/Average Jane: This individual has achieved relatively less and does not have a strong family background. He/she is your so-called “average” Joe/Jane, and is relatively less valued in the matrix compared to his/her peers.

Lovely Boy/Lovely Girl: This individual comes from a very strong family background, but has achieved “relatively” less on their own. In this scenario, the older generation would advise the younger generation to consider the proposal merely because “they are from a good/important family”!

Rising Star: Although this individual does not have strong Family Brand Equity, he/she is an achiever and is highly accomplished. The individual’s track record speaks of his/her accomplishments. This person has achieved more in comparison to the “Average” and “Lovely” types! 

The Catch: These individualshave accomplished a lot for themselves and come from families with a high brand value. He/she is the most impressive one of the lot!

Impact from the marriage proposal market

Assuming that the “The Catch” gets married first, this will create a vacuum in the marriage proposal market space and the “relative value” of each individual will increase. This is a simple analogy.

Take Sri Lanka’s soap market as an example. It is dominated by multinationals. Make the assumption that MNC soaps are “The Catch”. If the Government of Sri Lanka bans all multinationals from manufacturing soap, the “relative value” of all local soap manufacturers increases due to “The Catch” leaving the market.

Next,I will define the X and Y axes is greater detail. To define the Individuality axis and the Family Brand Equity axis, we will use a model similar to Porter’s Five Forces analysis.

A variety of factors will be looked into of the individual’s family when considering marriage. 

Family History is a key factor when considering a marriage proposal. Families check how other people “perceive” the proposed family. When it comes to marriage, there is no “one size fits it all”. Families go into great lengths to find out finer details about the proposed member’s family.

Religion and Caste systemstoo play a critical role in selecting the prospective partner. Bodu/Govi, Shia/Sunni,Christian/Catholic – this plays a vital role in how the two families mingleonce the marriage occurs. In Sri Lanka, there is considerable attempt to marry within one’s religion and caste.

FamilyEconomics is the third factor at play. Each family’s historical/current economic situation will be looked into. The analysis at times would look at the Future Cash Flow as well! This directly or indirectly leads to “bragging rights” – i.e. stating how marvellously well each party is doing.

All the above factors bring togetherthe type of affiliation the family has in the society. This is an important aspect in connecting the right people, which is the marriage maker’s role. This will be discussed further in ‘Connecting the Dots’.

We use the Individuality axisto define the individual. 

Education andCareer progression are relatively interlinked. An individual will generally try to connect with a life partner with similar intellect and interests.

Personality Traits and Physical Attributes are subjective, and the writer does not wish to discuss finer details given this subjectivity.

A person’s education/career, personality traits andphysical attributes lead to them knowing a particular segment of society. This Affiliation is the individual’s network, where an engineer would know more engineers and a doctor wouldknow doctors,etc.

We will explore how the individual’s affiliation links with the family’s affiliation in “Connecting the Dots”.

Connecting the Dots

Marriage proposals are often based on connections. These connections help people identify individuals in the marriage proposal market. The Marriage Maker will either directly approach the family or the individual if they have a good proposition. Else, they will approach a mutual person who knows the individual and/or the family, where that person could inform each party of the interest of the other.If both parties find each individual a ‘person of interest’, they will proceed with the formalities.

The relationship between the individual, the family and the Marriage Maker is depicted in the “Marriage Proposal Market Landscape”.

Conclusion

This article was an attempt to apply management concepts to the archaic process of marriage making. Each situation may be uniquely different from the other, but the model generalises the process.

By no means should a decision of such importance be decided via a management model. It’s one of the greatest decisions in one’s life, and he or she must follow their heart!