"A thorough understanding of
culture is pivotal to effective international marketing but culture frequently
is under theorised and conceived in reductionist simplistic dualisms."
Critically discuss this statement with
reference to examples. In your answer you will need to review and examine how
culture is conceptualised in text books, journal articles and in marketing
practice. All answers to this question should consider the implications for development
international marketing theory and the utility of theory for marketing
practice.
2. Introduction
Companies sometimes assume that what works
in their home country will work in another country. They take the same product,
same advertising campaign, even the same brand names and packaging, and with
virtually no chance to try to market it the same way in another country. The
result in many cases is failure. Why? Well, the assumption that one approach
works everywhere fails to consider differences that exist between countries and
cultures. This will takes us to have anther look to the following statement, “A
thorough understanding of culture is pivotal to effective international
marketing but culture frequently is under theorised and conceived in
reductionist simplistic dualisms.”, and critically discuss it with
reference to example. My discussion will be based upon
the material covered on the module and my own example to support the arguments.
In my analysis, I will examine how the culture
is conceptualised in the text books, journal articles and in marketing
practice. However, the analysis will consider the implications
for development
international marketing theory and the utility of theory for marketing
practice. Finally, I will put my recommendation and conclusion.
3. A Borderless world
The world is rapidly shrinking with the advent of
faster communication, transportation, and financial flows. Products developed
in one country—Gucci purses, Mont Blanc pens,
McDonald’s hamburgers, Japanese sushi, Chanel suits, German BMWs—are finding
enthusiastic acceptance in other countries[1]. Thomas Middelhoff of Germany ’s Bertelsmann AG, which purchased U.S.
4. Aspects of Culture
Culture is the patterns
of behaviour and thinking that people living in social groups learn, create,
and share, where culture distinguishes one human group from others. The people's
culture includes their beliefs, rules of behaviour, language, art, technology,
styles of dress, ways of producing and cooking food, religion, and political
and economic systems. In the following I will highlight the main aspects of
culture:
- Material culture
It represents all physical which
are made and it is useful guide to the society’s standard of living.
- Educations
The level of education in a new
market has a large implication on the promotional campaigns.
- Religion
The religions differences must be
respect on both marketing and business practice. The sensitivity of such
differences could cause the company a big fail to enter such market.
- Social organization
The suitable product on a
developed country sometimes it is not the same on a less developed
country.
- Language
Yes, English is international
language but there many other language around the world. On the advertising, If
the translation is not conducted by a native speaker you business could be
negatively affected.
- Aesthetics
The standard of public taste is
different from country to anther. Many advertising for medical products on the Middle East was not accepted for this reason.
- Ethics and mores
Ethics and mores are generally
driven by religion and many examples could be observed about that.
- Political system
The political systems
in the host country need very careful examinations where the marketing strategy
involves the setting-up of revenue-earning assets overseas.
- Economic systems
These are usually the
out come of the political stances of one kind or anther.
- Legal system
Many of the third world countries have become
more attractive for investors when they reduced the entry barriers.
McDonald’s has been
highly successful in markets outside the United States
5.
Characteristics of culture
Anthropologists commonly use the term
culture to refer to a society or group in which many or all people live and
think in the same ways. Likewise, any group of people who share a common
culture—and in particular, common rules of behaviour and a basic form of social
organization—constitutes a society. Thus, the terms culture and society are
somewhat interchangeable[4].
However, the main characteristics of culture are:
- Culture is prescriptive: It
prescribes that kinds of behaviour considered acceptable in the society. Same
of these characteristics create problems for those products not in
acceptable within the consumer’s cultural beliefs.
- Culture is socially shared: Culture
cannot exist by itself as all the members of a society must share it.
- Culture is learned: Culture is
something that can not be inherited genetically but it must be learned and
acquired.
- Culture facilitates communication:
Culture is one useful function to facilitate communication. However, culture
may also impede communication across groups because of a lack of shared
common culture values. This is one reason why a standardized advertisement
may have difficulty communicating with consumers in foreign countries.
- Culture is enduring: because
culture is shared and passed along from generation to generation, it is
relatively stable and somewhat permanent. Old habits are hard to break, and
people and people tend to maintain its own heritage in spite of
continuously changing world.
Culture
is based on hundreds or even thousands of years of accumulated circumstances.
Each generation adds something of its own of culture before passing the heritage
on to the next generation. However, culture is constantly changing it adapts
itself to new situations and new sources of knowledge.
The work of Hofstede (1994) and Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner (1997),
although criticised in terms of methodology and recency, does illustrate major
cultural differences between emerging and
developed markets[5].
Schutte and Ciarlante compared
Hofstede’s and Trompenaars dimensions between Asian and Western markets and
found that of Hofstede’s dimensions, Asian markets reflected higher power
distance, and greater collectivism than in western markets[6]. They found with
Trompenaars dimensions that Asian markets reflected more focus on relationships,
on group rights, on the indirect expression of emotions and a view of status
being due to position rather than to individual efforts. Subsequently Hofstede
and Bond came up with an Asian cultural dimension of Confucian Dynamism[7]. These findings were
supported by another study that compared the fourteen least developed with the
fourteen most developed countries by Fletcher and Melewar[8]. These findings are
illustrated in Table 1.
Table 1. Comparison between Developed and Emerging
Markets
(Source: Fletcher and Melewar)
This
is shows up to what extent culture understanding is pivotal to effective
international marketing.
6. The impact of Culture on International Marketing Strategy
There is
culture influence on marketing strategies and this could be observed from many
examples. Standardization or adaptation, these are the two extreme of the
international marketing strategies. In the following, I will try to give examples
of the culture impact on the main component for the marketing strategy:
6.1
Product
According to Dubois[9],
marketers designing product strategies have to take the impact of culture into
account mostly in the area of positioning, product presentation, and packaging.
How marketing efforts interact with a culture determines the success or failure
of a product. This strategy could be impacted by the material culture of the
host country. For example, General Foods squandered millions trying to
introduce packaged cake mixes to Japanese consumers but they failed because
they have not considered the culture differences. The company failed to note that only 3% of the
Japanese homes were equipped with ovens[10].
Anther example, Campbell Soups lost $30 million in Europe before it accepted
the idea that British and U.S.
1. British soups
consumers have different taste preferences. Campbell
2. British soup
consumers had not been educated to the condensed soup product concept. Because
of the smaller can size.
3. British soup
consumers did not respond the same way to U.S.
advertisement as U.S.
If we talk about a religion like
Islam for example, we will notice that it is forbidden to eat ham or drink
alcohol. This should be known by any international company before they start to
offer such products in any Moslem country. Therefore, standardisation of the
marketing strategy can not works all time and the culture influence should be
taking seriously in consideration
6.2 Promotion
Advertising and promotion require
special attention because the play a key role in communicating product concepts
and benefits to the target segment. Culture is subjective people in different
cultures often have different ideas about the same object. What is acceptable
in one culture may not necessarily be so in another. Companies
can run the same advertising and promotion campaigns used in their home market
or change them for each local market, a process called communication adoption.
However, if the adoption will cover the product and the communication it is
called dual adoption. Communication could be impacted by:
·
Language
Procter &
Gamble’s Crest toothpaste initially failed in Mexico
when it used the U.S. Spain Quebec
·
Food
Chase and Sanborn met resistance when it
tried to introduce its instant coffee in France
·
Values
In 1963, Dow Breweries introduced a new beer
in Quebec , Canada
·
Religion
·
Social Norms and time
A telephone company
tried to incorporate a Latin flavour in its commercials by employing Puerto
Rican actors. In the ad, the wife said to her husband, “run and phone Mary.
Tell her we will be a little late.” This commercial has two major cultural
errors. Latin wives seldom dare order their husband around, and almost no Latin
would feel it necessary to phone to warm of tardiness since it is expected
6.3 Price
With
regard to pricing, Buzzell argues that three dimensions of culture are at work[18]:
- Values which affect the
propensity to bargain
- The legal framework which
determines the extent to which fixed resale prices are to be allowed
- Customs which command margins
taken by trade intermediaries
These
dimensions affect the overall price level of a product. A Gucci handbag may
sell for $120 in Italy and
$240 in USA
6.4 Place
Distribution channels
within countries vary considerably[19].
Selling soap in Japan is
different than Africa because of the local
distribution systems. The size and the character of the retail units are
different from country to anther.
The
Development of Global Culture Rapid changes in technology in the last several
decades have changed the nature of culture and cultural exchange. Local culture
and social structure are now shaped by large and powerful commercial interests
in ways that earlier anthropologists could not have imagined. Early
anthropologists thought of societies and their cultures as fully independent
systems. But today, many nations are multicultural societies, composed of
numerous smaller subcultures. The impact is there and it is pivotal.
7. Culture Dimensions
Cultural
dimensions are the mostly psychological dimensions, or value constructs, which
can be used to describe a specific culture[20].More precisely:
- Cultural dimensions are
sometimes not specified. Culture refers to a broad category of variables
which are not defined
- Culture is sometimes
presented as being the factor responsible for cross-national differences which
are otherwise unexplained.
- Cultural dimensions are only
loosely identified. For instance, some authors will use almost
interchangeably terms like values, attitudes or norms.
In turn, marketing dimensions may not be
defined precisely enough. For instance, an assessment of the cultural impact on
distribution cannot be performed meaningfully in broad terms. Even if these
concerns were properly addressed, a key issue would remain: how to identify
commonly shared traits in societies before attempting to investigate
their impact on marketing variables? Existing studies presume that the
differences observed in the measurement of cultural variables between countries
reflect real differences in commonly shared attributes in each country[21].
This may not necessarily be the case. It should first be established that
commonly shared traits of each country have been isolated. As a matter of fact,
Inkeles and Levinson in their discussion of national character warn that "...it
appears unlikely that any specific personality characteristic or any character type
will be found in as much as 60-70 percent of any modern national population[22]."
One would suspect that the same would hold true with respect to cultural traits
relevant to consumption behaviour. Unfortunately, the dangerous road to
national stereotyping is paved with plenty of statistically significant yet
irrelevant findings.
8. Cross-Cultural Analysis
Cross-cultural analysis defined as the
systematic comparison of similarities and differences in the material and
behavioural aspects of cultures. In marketing, cross-cultural analysis is used
to gain an understanding of market segments within and across national
boundaries. The purpose of this analysis is to determine whether the marketing
program, or elements of the program, can be used in more than one foreign
market or must be modified to meet local conditions. Cross-cultural analysis
most often involves identifying the effects culture may have on family
purchasing roles, product function. Product design, sales and promotion
activities, channel systems, and pricing.
9. Recommendation
Whether a firm is pursuing a national-market
or global-market strategy, culture analysis is interested in increasing the
effectiveness and efficiency of its marketing programs within and across
foreign markets. It must therefore know to what degree it can use the same
product, pricing, promotion, and distribution strategies in more than one
market. Unfortunately, there is a conflict in implementing such activity effectiveness
and efficiency. Market effectiveness is achieved by adapting marketing programs
to the local culture, while doing so will add additional marketing and
production costs. Efficiency, on the other hand, is achieved by minimizing
marketing program changes across markets. Therefore, the firm minimizes
marketing and production costs and strengthens its competitiveness with its
competitors. The economic and competitive implications of both goals need to be
taken into account when making program adaptation decisions. Both goals depend
on understanding the cultural context of each market and the degree to which they
are culturally similar. Therefore, global companies need to develop a
capability to conduct cross-cultural analysis. Such a capability can help these
companies optimally balance the competitive benefits to be derived from
effectiveness and efficiency.
To question the usefulness of what has been
written to date by academics on the impact of culture on international
marketing appear unfair after this review. There is obviously little firm
ground on which to stand, and little way, for example, to tell an inquiring
business person what she or he should do with her/his price or her/his
packaging should she/he attempt to enter the Ruritanian market[23].
Yet, what has so far been done is far from useless since at least it
sensitibilizes the interested party to the relevance of the cultural dimension,
and points to some areas of concern in terms of specific cultural variables and
their likely incidence on marketing variables.
There is no doubt that the international
marketing process do faces a large set of variables as it take place over
different countries and it does act in different environments. One of the most
determinant environments to the success of the international marketing process
is Culture, which hold the reason for many human acts and behaviour. Reaching
to that point international marketer should study deeply culture treaties of a
country the company is planning to act in. so that special amendments in the
organization overall plans and actions is made to act in accordance with the
new market variables.
Beyond that, in order to answer more
specific questions the inquirer is still warmly recommended, as is suggested in
most textbooks, to consult with knowledgeable foreign nationals, distributors,
consultants and the like, and to indulge in appropriate testing and market
research[24].
10. Conclusion
I have tried in this assignment by
using the textbook and other references to discuss how culture is pivotal to effective
international marketing. By using my own example, I have discussed how culture
is under theorized. The examples demonstrated how culture differences were
under estimated in the implementation of the international marketing
activities. I have used many books and
journal articles to examine how culture conceptualized. I did consider in my
argument the implications for the development of the international marketing
theory.
In turn, most of the assignment was
based on reviewing the textbooks and journal articles, which can be noticed
from the amount of references used. Finally,
I have included my recommendation as commonly suggested in most textbooks.
However, I believe that this topic
needs more investigation in order to add value to the development of the
international marketing theory and the utility of theory for marketing
practice.
[1] Kotler, Marketing Management, The Eleventh Edition p383,
Prentice Hall Publications
[2] Joseph B White, “There Are No German or U.S. Companies, Only
Successful Once.” The Wall Street Journal ( May 7, 1998), A1
[3] John Alden,” What in the World Drives UPS?” International
Business (April 1998):6-71.
[5] Richard
Fletcher, The Impact of Culture and Relationships on International Marketing at
the Bottom of the Pyramid, University
of Western Sydney
[6] Schutte,
H. and Ciarlante, D., 1998. Consumer Behaviour in Asia .
Macmillan Business Press, London
[7] Hofstede,
G. 2001. Culture’s Consequences, Comparing Values, behaviours, Institutions and
Organizations Across Nations, 2nd edition, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA.
[8] Fletcher, R. and Melewar, T.C. 2001, The Complexities of
Communicating with Customers in Emerging markets, Journal of Communications
Management, 6 (1) 9-23.
[9] Dubois,
Bernard (1987), "Culture et marketing", Recherché et Applications
en Marketing, 11-1, 47-64.
[10] Sally A. Martin Egge,” Creating an environment of mutual respect
within the multicultural workplace both at home and globally” Journal of
Management Decision , Vol. 37, No. 1 ( Feb., 1999), pp. 24 – 28.
[12] Kotler, Marketing Management, The Eleventh Edition p385,
Prentice Hall Publications
[13] Richard P. Carpenter and the Globe Staff. “What they Meant to say
was….,”Boston Globe, August 2, 1998, p.M6.
[15] Frederick Elkin, “Advertising
Themes and Quiet Revolutions: Dilemmas in French Canada
[17] Ira M.
Wasserman and Chikako Usui,
“Indicators
of contraceptive policy for nations at three levels of development”, Journal of Social Indicators Research, Volume 12, Number 2 /
February, 1983, pp. 153-168.
[18] Buzzell,
Robert D. (1968), "Can You Standardize Multinational Marketing?", Harvard
Business Review, November-December, 102-113.
[19] Kotler, Marketing Management, The Eleventh Edition p400,
Prentice Hall Publications
[21] Jean-Emile
Denis,” Culture and International Marketing Mix Decisions”, University of Geneva
[22] Inkeles,
Alex, and Daniel J. Levinson (1969), "National Character: The Study of
Modal Personality and Sociocultural Systems", in G. Lindsay and E. Aronson
(Eds.), The Handbook of Social Psychology, Vol. 4, Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA.
[23] Jean-Emile
Denis,” Culture and International Marketing Mix Decisions”, University of Geneva
[24] Usunier,
Jean-Claude (1993), “International Marketing”, Prentice Hall
International (UK
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