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Chapter Learning Objectives

• The importance of culture to an international marketer

• The origins and elements of culture• The impact of cultural borrowing• The strategy of planned change and its

consequences

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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.

• Consequences of consumption• Culture not only affects consumption, it also affects

production

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Patterns of Consumption (annual per capita)

• Insert Exhibit 4.2

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Consequences of Consumption

• Insert Exhibit 4.3

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Definitions and Origins of Culture

• Most traditional definitions of culture state that 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.

• Humans make adaptations to changing environments through innovation.

• Individuals learn culture from social institutions through:- Socialization (growing up)- Acculturation (adjusting to a new culture)

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Definitions and Origins of Culture (cont’d)

• Geography• History• The political and economic systems

- Three approaches to governance competed for world dominance:

• Fascism• Communism• Democracy/Free Enterprise• Islamic Law (added by Dr. Mallalieu)

• Technology

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Definitions and Origins of Culture (cont’d)

• Social institutions- Family

• Favoritism of boys in some cultures- Religion

• Misunderstanding of beliefs- School

• No country has been successful economically with less than 50% literacy.

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Definitions and Origins of Culture (cont’d)

- The media• Media time has replaced family time

- Government• Governments try to influence the thinking and

behaviors of adult citizens.- Corporations

• Most innovations are introduced to societies by companies

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Hofstede’s Indexes, Language, and Linguistic Distance

• Insert Exhibit 4.5

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Elements of Culture

• Cultural values- Individualism/Collectivism Index- Power Distance Index- Uncertainty Avoidance Index- Cultural Values and Consumer Behavior

• Rituals- Marriage- Funerals

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Cultural Knowledge

• Factual knowledge vs. interpretive knowledge- Has meaning as a straightforward fact about a culture

but assumes additional significance when interpreted within the context of the culture.

• Cultural sensitivity and tolerance- Being attuned to the nuances of culture so that a new

culture can be viewed objectively 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.

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Cultural Change

• Cultural borrowing:- Effort to learn from other cultures for better solutions

to a society’s particular problems.• Similarities: an illusion

- A common language does not guarantee a similar interpretation of word or phrases.

• Resistance to change:- Cultural growth does not occur without some

resistance.• Resistance to genetically modified (GM) foods

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Summary

• A complete and thorough appreciation of the origins and elements of culture may well be the single most important gain to a foreign marketer in the preparation of marketing plans and strategies.

• Marketers can control the product offered to a market – its promotion, price, and eventual distribution methods – but they have only limited control over the cultural environment within which these plans must be implemented.

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Summary (cont’d)

• When a company is operating internationally each new environment that is influenced by elements unfamiliar and sometimes unrecognizable to the marketer complicates the task.

• Special effort and study are needed to absorb enough understanding of the foreign culture to cope with the uncontrollable features.