Chapter Learning Objectives

1. 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

2. 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

3. Patterns of Consumption (annual per capita) • Insert Exhibit 4.2

4. Consequences of Consumption • Insert Exhibit 4.3

5. 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)

6. 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

7. 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.

8. 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

9. Hofstede’s Indexes, Language, and Linguistic Distance • Insert Exhibit 4.5

10. Elements of Culture • Cultural values • Individualism/Collectivism Index • Power Distance Index • Uncertainty Avoidance Index • Cultural Values and Consumer Behavior • Rituals • Marriage • Funerals

11. 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.

12. 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

13. 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.

14. 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.