Cultural Dynamics in Assessing
Global Markets
Chapter 4
McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright © 2013 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Overview
The importance of culture to an international
marketer
Definition and origins of culture
The elements of culture
The impact of cultural change and cultural
borrowing
Strategies of planned and unplanned change
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Culture’s Pervasive Impact
Culture affects every part of our lives, every day, from
birth to death, and everything in between.
As countries move from agricultural to industrial to
services economies, birthrates decline and global
changes in Culture influences every part of our lives
Cultures impact on birth rates
• Birthrates have implications for sellers of diapers, toys,
schools, and colleges
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Culture’s Pervasive Impact
Consumption of different types of food influences
culture
• Chocolate by Swiss, seafood by Japanese preference, beef
by British, wines by France and Italy
Even diseases are influenced by culture
• stomach cancer in Japan, and lung cancer in Spain
It is imperative for foreign marketers to learn to
appreciate the intricacies of cultures different from their
own if they are to effective in foreign markets.
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(Year of the
Dragon and
Year of the
Fire Horse
2026)
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Consumption Patterns (annual per capita)
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Consequences of Consumption
Now any discussion of tobacco consumption leads immediately to
consideration of the consequences of consumption. One might expect that a
high consumption of the romance products—flowers, candy, and wine—might
lead to a high birthrate.
The Germans have some of the highest consumption levels of the romantic
three, but the lowest birthrate among the eight countries.
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Three Definitions of Culture
Culture is the sum of the “values, rituals, symbols,
beliefs, and thought processes that are learned, shared
by a group of people, and transmitted from generation
to generation”
“software of the mind, problem-solving tool” (Hofstede)
“An invisible barrier… a completely different way of
organizing life, of thinking, and of conceiving the
underlying assumptions about the family and the state,
the economic system, and even Man himself” (Hall)
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Definitions and Origins of Culture
Individuals learn culture in three ways
• Socialization (growing up)
• Acculturation (adjusting to a new culture)
• Application (decisions about consumption and
production)
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Origins, Elements, and Consequences of
Culture
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4-10
Geography
Exercises a profound control
• Includes climate, topography, flora, fauna, and
microbiology
• Influenced history, technology, economics, social
institutions and way of thinking
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4-11
Why do we all Love Flowers?
Geography
History
Technology and economics
Social institutions
Cultural values
Aesthetics as symbols
Geography – the rivers and the bays make the Netherlands a great trading
country. The miserable weather, rain and snow more than 200 days per year,
make it a colorless place, gray nearly year round. The vibrant colors of tulip
first came to Europe from the Ottoman Empire on a Dutch ship in 1561.
History – the Dutch enthusiasm for the new "visual drug" was great.
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History
History - Impact of specific events can be
seen reflected in technology, social
institutions, cultural values, and even
consumer behavior
• Tobacco was the original source of the
Virginia colony’s economic survival in
the 1600s
• Military conflicts in the Middle East
brought about new cola alternatives
such as Mecca Cola, Muslim Up, and
Arab Cola.
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Origins of Culture: History
For e.g., American trade policy depended on tobacco
being the original source of the Virginia colony’s
economic survival in the 1600s
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Political Economy and Technology
For most of the 20th Century three approaches to
governance competed for world dominance:
• Fascism
• Fascism fell in 1945
• Communism
• Communism crumbled in the 1990s
• Democracy/free enterprise
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Political Economy and Technology
Technology
• Jet aircraft, air conditioning, televisions, computers, Internet,
etc.
• None more important than the birth control pill
• Although America has the best healthcare technology, people in
many countries have greater longevity; lifestyle choices are
important
4-16
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Family
Behaviors
Religious School
Value &
Systems Education
Social
Institutions
Government
Media
Policies
Corporations
4-17
Origins of Culture: Social Institutions
Social institutions including family, religion, school,
the media, government, and corporations all affect
culture
The family, social classes, group behavior, age groups,
and how societies define decency and civility are
interpreted differently within every culture
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Origins of Culture: Social Institutions
1. Family behavior varies across the world, e.g.,
extended families living together to Dad washing
dishes
2. Religious value systems differ across the world, e.g.,
Muslims not allowed to eat pork to Hindus not
allowed to consume beef
3. School and education, and literacy rates affect
culture and economic growth
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Social Institutions
Family
• Nepotism
• Role of extended family
• Favoritism of boys in some cultures
• Gender equality is changing
Religion - Major Religions
• First institution infants are exposed to outside the
home
• Impact of values systems
• Misunderstanding of beliefs
• Islam is not just a religion, but law.
• An American women jailed in Saudi Arabia for sitting with man at Starbucks
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Major Religions
Christianity – 2 Billion followers
Islam – 1.2 Billion followers
Hinduism – 860 Million followers
Buddhism – 360 Million followers
Confucianism – 150 Million followers
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Social Institutions
School – the most important social institution
• Direct link between a nation’s literacy rate and its
economic development
• Difficult to communicate with a market when a
company must depend on symbols and pictures
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Origins of Culture: Social Institutions
4. Media (magazines, TV, the Internet) influences
culture and behavior
5. Government policies influence the thinking and
behaviors citizens of adult citizens, e.g., the French
government offers new “birth bonuses” of $800
given to women as an incentive to increase family
size
6. Corporations influence culture via the products they
market, e.g., MTV
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Cultural
Values
Thought
Rituals
Processes
Elements
of
Culture
Beliefs Symbols
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Cultural Values
Hofstede, who studied over 90,000 people in 66
countries, found that the cultures differed along
four primary dimensions
• Individualism/Collective Index (IDV), which focuses
on self-orientation
• Power Distance Index (PDI), which focuses on
authority orientation
• Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI), which focuses on
risk orientation; and
• Masculinity/Femininity Index (MAS), which focuses
on assertiveness and achievement
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Individualism/Collectivism Index
1. The Individualism/Collective Index refers to the preference
for behavior that promotes one’s self-interest
2. High IDV cultures reflect an “I” mentality and tend to reward
and accept individual initiative
3. Low IDV cultures reflect a “we” mentality and generally
subjugate the individual to the group
4. Collectivism pertains to societies in which people from birth
onward are integrated into strong, cohesive groups, which
protect them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty
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Power Distance Index
1. The Power Distance Index measures power inequality
between superiors and subordinates within a social
system
2. Cultures with high PDI scores tend to be hierarchical
and value power and social status
3. High PDI cultures the those who hold power are
entitled to privileges
4. Cultures with low PDI scores value equality and reflect
egalitarian views
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Uncertainty Avoidance Index
1. The Uncertainty Avoidance Index measures the
tolerance of uncertainty and ambiguity among
members of a society
2. High UAI cultures are highly intolerant of ambiguity,
experience anxiety and stress, accord a high level of
authority to rules as a means of avoiding risk
3. Low UAI cultures are associated with a low level of
anxiety and stress, a tolerance of deviance and dissent,
and a willingness to take risks
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Exhibit 4.7 Hofstede's Indexes, Language, and Linguistic Distance Source: Geert Hofstede,
Culture's Consequences (thousand Oaks CA: Sage, 2011). 4-29
Rituals and Symbols
Rituals are patterns of behavior and interaction that
are learned and repeated vary from country to
country
• e.g., extended lunch hours in Spain and Greece
Language as Symbols: the “languages” of time,
space, things, friendships, and agreements
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Rituals and Symbols
In Canada, language has been the focus of political
disputes
Differences in language vocabulary varies widely,
even English is different in different countries
Aesthetics as Symbols
• the arts, folklore, music, drama, and dance of a culture
influences marketing
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Dressed in the ritual color of saffron (orange), thousands of pilgrims of the Lord Shiva
descend one of the over 100 Ghats in Varanasi, India, to perform puja (ritual cleansing
of the soul). 5–10 million participate 4-32
Language
According to www.ethnologue.com:
• A total of 7,413 known living languages exist in the
world
• 311 being spoken in the U.S.; 297 in Mexico, 13 in
Finland, and 241 in China
• EU has 20 official languages
• India alone has 452 known languages!
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4-33
Whose English?
United States
United Kingdom
• Trunk • Boot
• Hood • Bonnet
• Convertible Top • Hood
• Elevator • Lift
• Toilet • W.C.
• Bathroom • Tub or Shower
• Vacuum • Hoover
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Elements of Culture (4 of 4)
Beliefs, which mainly stem from religious training,
vary from culture to culture
• The western aversion to the number 13 or refusing to walk
under a ladder
• Japanese concern about Year of the Fire Horse
• The Chinese practice of Feng Shui in designing buildings
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Cultural Sensitivity and Tolerance
It is imperative that the marketer be attuned to
the nuances of culture so that a new culture can be
viewed objectively, evaluated and appreciated
• Cultures are not right or wrong, better or worse,
they are simply different
• The more exotic the situation, the more sensitive,
tolerant, and flexible one needs to be
• There must be an appreciation of how cultures
change and accept or reject new ideas
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Cultural Sensitivity Has to Be Cultivated
Cultural sensitivity can be developed by acquiring
knowledge about a culture including:
• Different meanings of colors, and different tastes
• General facts about a culture
It can also be developed by learning the more in-
depth meaning of cultural facts:
• The meaning of time, and attitudes toward people
• Developing a degree of insight
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Resistance to Change
Although some cultures embrace change others are
resistant to it
• Working women in masculine societies like Saudi Arabia
• Lack of acceptance of GM foods (or “Frankenfood”) in
Europe
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Similarities – An Illusion
A common language does not guarantee a
similar interpretation of word or phrases
• Difference between British and American English
• http://www.woodlands-
junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/questions/americanb
ritish/index.html
Just because something sells in one country
doesn’t mean it will sell in another
• Cultural differences among member of European
Union a product of centuries of history
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Planned and Unplanned Cultural Change
Determine which cultural factors conflict with an
innovation
Change those factors from obstacles to acceptance into
stimulants for change
Marketers have two options when introducing and
innovation to a culture
• They can wait (unplanned change)
• They can cause change (planned change)
Cultural congruence
• Marketing products similar to ones already on the market
in a manner as congruent as possible with existing cultural
norms
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