Cultural Environment – Flashcards
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Why is studying the cultural environment important to international marketing?
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Studying the cultural environment is important to international marketing for two reasons. The first is that it relates to the marketing concept philosophy. The second is that it can help us minimize cultural risk.
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What is the marketing concept philosophy?
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The marketing concept philosophy is that the consumer is the center, we need to know their needs and wants and how to satisfy them. All individuals are unique.
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How does cultural environment related to the marketing concept philosophy?
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The cultural environment relates to the marketing concept philosophy in the sense that culture shapes the needs and wants of individuals.
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Describe cultural risk
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Cultural risk is the risk of marketing blunders stemming from misunderstanding of differences in values, beliefs, or behaviors in host-country markets.
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What is culture?
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Culture is that complex whole which consists of knowledge, beliefs, art, morals, law, customs, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by individuals as members of society. Culture is learned, shared, and persistent, meaning it is not easily changed.
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What is enculturation?
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Enculturation is the learning of your own native culture in which you were brought up.
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What is aculturation?
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Aculturation is the learning of another culture by living somewhere else.
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What are three views of culture?
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Three views of culture include parochialism, ethnocentrism, and equifinalism.
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What is parochialism?
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Parochialism in regards to culture is a narrowly restricted outlook in regards to one's own ethnic group. "Our way is the only way".
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What is ethnocentrism in regards to culture?
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Ethnocentrism in regards to culture is the belief in one's superiority of one's own ethnic group.
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What is equifinalism?
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Equifinalism in regards to culture is the belief that the same end state can be reached via different paths. Examples include happiness, peace, and success.
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What are major elements of culture?
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Major elements of culture include technology and material culture, language, aesthetics, education, religion, and attitudes and values.
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Describe technology and material culture
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Technology and material culture involves the methods of making and using things; the tools and cultural artifacts. The end state of things can be very similar despite differences in technology. An example of washing clothes inside with a dryer versus outside on a line. It is important to be aware of situations like this because you do not want to force radical change on a persistent culture.
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Describe language in terms of culture
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Language relates to communication. It can be homogeneity of heterogeneity. Linguistic homogeneity is when all of the country uses the same language. Linguistic heterogeneity is when the country uses a variety of languages (two or more).
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Give an example of how language can affect marketing
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Coca cola is an example of how language can affect marketing. In some countries the brand is changed into the host nation's language. This could be legally required or done solely for people to understand.
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What are aesthetics?
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Aesthetics are ideas of beauty and good taste expressed in fashion, music, and art.
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What elements of education are important to study in international marketing and why?
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It is important to study educational systems and literacy rates. When looking at education systems one must examine the curriculum, minimum requirement of education, access, and discrimination. We study literacy rates and the educational systems to make sure what we are marketing is understood and to ensure we are hiring efficient people.
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What do we study about religion and why?
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For international marketing it is important to study religion and its influences on product preferences and taboos. This is important because we do not want to target the wrong people and do not want to disrupt or offend. An example is pork and alcohol.
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What do we study about attitudes and values?
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There are unique perspectives when it comes to attitudes and values. For example there are different attitudes towards time and work. (The U.S - time is money, Spain- those who rush arrive first at the grave) There are always different perspectives.
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What are Hofstede's 4 dimensions of cultural values?
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Hofstede's 4 dimensions of cultural values demonstrate how cultures can be differentiated. They include individualism v. collectivism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and masculinity.
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Describe an individualistic culture
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Individualistic cultures have a preference for loosely-knit social frameworks in which individuals are independent. These are the "I" culture. An example is the U.S.
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Describe a collectivist culture
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Collectivism distinguishes cultures based on their preference for tightly-knit social frameworks in which people are emotionally integrated in groups. These types of cultures are "We" cultures. Examples include China, Korea, and Japan.
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Describe power distance
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Power distance is the extent to which people accept social inequalities. It has high implications when dealing with employment.
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What is egaliterrianism?
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Egaliterrianism is when everyone is treated equally. Countries that take part in this more have less of a power distance.
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What is uncertainty avoidance?
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Uncertainty avoidance is the degree to which people feel threatened by ambiguous or unstructured situations.
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Describe masculinity in terms of Hofstede's cultural values
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Masculinity is the degree of importance of personal achievement, assertiveness, material possessions versus modesty, close relationships, and concern for the less unfortunate members of the society.
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What are the degrees of adaption to foreign customs?
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The three main degrees of adaption to foreign customs are imperative, adiaphora, or exclusive.
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What are imperative adaptive customs?
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Imperative adaptive customs are ones which are should always be adapted to. Examples include greetings and level of formality. Another big example is China and "guanxi"
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What are exclusive customs?
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Exclusive customs are those which you cannot follow. For example, if not muslim one cannot pray in a mosque.
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What are adiaphora customs?
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Adiaphora customs are elective customs. Examples of these are language, food, and intricies of greeting.
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Describe a high context culture based on Hall
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In a high context culture lawyers are less important, a person's word is the person's bond, there is not much personal space, time is polychronic, and negotiations are lengthy.
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Describe a low context culture based on Hall
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In a low context culture lawyers are very important, a person's word must be in writing, there is much personal space, time is monochronic, and negotiations happen quickly.
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How are low and high context cultures differentiated?
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Low and high context cultures are differentiated through communication.
