マーケティング・ビジネス英語の勉強会、BizComで使用しているテキスト "Kotler on Marketing" に次ぎの文章がありました。
Mass selling has been abused by some companies, which exaggerate the potential incomes and/or make shoddy products that no one will buy from the distributors. Called "pyramid selling schemes," they are to be distinguished from bona fide and well-established mass-selling organizations practicing what is variously called "network marketing" or "multilevel marketing."
"pyramid selling schemes" はいわゆるマルチ商法ですが、問題となったのは "multilevel marketing" で、これも普通はマルチ商法を表す言葉ではないかと言う疑問です。そもそも日本語のマルチ商法もここから出た言葉に違いないし。そこで辞書を引きます。
Word Spy: A business that sells goods and services using a network of individuals ("distributors"). Each distributor is paid a commission on the sales they generate as well as the sales generated by distributors they recruit into the business.
Example Citation:
"In multilevel marketing, all customers are potential distributors, and each level of distributor gets a cut of the earnings of the next level; the best-known example is Amway. Multilevel marketing networks, with sales in the tens of billions annually, are derided as pyramid schemes by critics, but the difference is that in an illegal pyramid scheme, money is earned by recruiting new members rather than by selling products."
?Eric Hubler, "Magnet magnate draws Broncos to his business," The Denver Post, June 9, 1999
たしかにここでは "multilevel marketing" は不法な "pyramid selling schemes" とは違うと言っているようです。別の辞書にもあたって見ましょう。今度はBusinessDictionary.comの定義です。
"multilevel marketing" (MLM) Definition: Alternative term for network marketing.
これだとコトラーのテキストの表現（"network marketing" or "multilevel marketing）通りですね。そうなると、問題は "pyramid selling schemes" の何が不法で "multilevel marketing" は何故不法ではないかを知る必要がありますね。都合が良いことにWikipediaでその事に触れています。
It is sometimes difficult to distinguish legal and reputable MLMs from illegal pyramid or Ponzi schemes. MLM businesses operate in the United States in all 50 states and in more than 100 other countries, and new businesses may use terms like "affiliate marketing" or "home-based business franchising". However, many pyramid schemes try to present themselves as legitimate MLM businesses.
In the most legitimate MLM companies, commissions are earned only on sales of the company's products or services. No money may be earned from recruiting alone ("sign-up fees"), though money earned from the sales of members recruited is one attraction of MLM arrangements. If participants are paid primarily from money received from new recruits, or if they are required to buy more product than they are likely to sell, then the company may be a pyramid or Ponzi scheme, which is illegal in most countries.
この後も米国の例でWikipediaの説明は続くのですが、では日本のマルチ商法に関する法律はどうなっているのかと興味が湧いてきたのですが１年８ヶ月前に法務部の仕事から足を洗って、他にやる事が一杯ある私としてはここでネットサーチは止め結論を出します。
Multi-level marketing is not illegal per se.
Mass selling has been abused by some companies, which exaggerate the potential incomes and/or make shoddy products that no one will buy from the distributors. Called "pyramid selling schemes," they are to be distinguished from bona fide and well-established mass-selling organizations practicing what is variously called "network marketing" or "multilevel marketing."
"pyramid selling schemes" はいわゆるマルチ商法ですが、問題となったのは "multilevel marketing" で、これも普通はマルチ商法を表す言葉ではないかと言う疑問です。そもそも日本語のマルチ商法もここから出た言葉に違いないし。そこで辞書を引きます。
Word Spy: A business that sells goods and services using a network of individuals ("distributors"). Each distributor is paid a commission on the sales they generate as well as the sales generated by distributors they recruit into the business.
Example Citation:
"In multilevel marketing, all customers are potential distributors, and each level of distributor gets a cut of the earnings of the next level; the best-known example is Amway. Multilevel marketing networks, with sales in the tens of billions annually, are derided as pyramid schemes by critics, but the difference is that in an illegal pyramid scheme, money is earned by recruiting new members rather than by selling products."
?Eric Hubler, "Magnet magnate draws Broncos to his business," The Denver Post, June 9, 1999
たしかにここでは "multilevel marketing" は不法な "pyramid selling schemes" とは違うと言っているようです。別の辞書にもあたって見ましょう。今度はBusinessDictionary.comの定義です。
"multilevel marketing" (MLM) Definition: Alternative term for network marketing.
これだとコトラーのテキストの表現（"network marketing" or "multilevel marketing）通りですね。そうなると、問題は "pyramid selling schemes" の何が不法で "multilevel marketing" は何故不法ではないかを知る必要がありますね。都合が良いことにWikipediaでその事に触れています。
It is sometimes difficult to distinguish legal and reputable MLMs from illegal pyramid or Ponzi schemes. MLM businesses operate in the United States in all 50 states and in more than 100 other countries, and new businesses may use terms like "affiliate marketing" or "home-based business franchising". However, many pyramid schemes try to present themselves as legitimate MLM businesses.
In the most legitimate MLM companies, commissions are earned only on sales of the company's products or services. No money may be earned from recruiting alone ("sign-up fees"), though money earned from the sales of members recruited is one attraction of MLM arrangements. If participants are paid primarily from money received from new recruits, or if they are required to buy more product than they are likely to sell, then the company may be a pyramid or Ponzi scheme, which is illegal in most countries.
この後も米国の例でWikipediaの説明は続くのですが、では日本のマルチ商法に関する法律はどうなっているのかと興味が湧いてきたのですが１年８ヶ月前に法務部の仕事から足を洗って、他にやる事が一杯ある私としてはここでネットサーチは止め結論を出します。
Multi-level marketing is not illegal per se.
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