1. Chapter 4
Social and Cultural Environments
Task of Global Marketers
* Study and understand the country cultures in which they will be doing business
* Incorporate this understanding into the marketing planning process
Introduction
“It is not just speaking a common language. It is sharing a culture and understanding
friendships in the same way”
Juan Villanonga – Former Chairman of Telefonica
Society, Culture, and
Global Consumer Culture
* Culture – Ways of living, built up by a group of human beings, that are transmitted
from one generation to another
* Culture is acted out in social institutions
* Culture has both conscious and unconscious values, ideas and attitudes
* Culture is both material and nonmaterial
Social Institutions
* Family
2. * Education
* Religion
* Government
* Business
* These institutions function to reinforce cultural norms
Material and Nonmaterial
* Physical components of culture
* Objects
* Artifacts
* Clothing
* Tools
* Pictures
* Homes
* Subjective or abstract culture
* Religion
* Perceptions
3. * Attitudes
* Beliefs
* Values
Aesthetics and Color
* What do you associate with Red?
* Active, hot, vibrant
* Weddings in some Asian cultures
* Poorly received in African countries
* With white?
* Purity, cleanliness
* Death in parts of Asia
Phonology in action
* Colgate is a Spanish command that means ‘go hang yourself’
* Technology implications for Text messages
* 8282 means ‘hurry up’ (Korea)
* 7170 means ‘close friend’ (Korea)
5. Society, Culture, and
Global Consumer Culture
“Culture is the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one
category of people from those of another.”
- Geert Hofstede
Society, Culture, and
Global Consumer Culture
* Global consumer cultures are emerging
* Persons who share meaningful sets of consumption-related symbols
* Pop culture; coffee culture; fast-food culture
* Primary the product of an interconnected world
Attitudes, Beliefs and Values
* Attitudes - learned tendency to respond in a consistent way to a given object or entity
* Belief - an organized pattern of knowledge that an individual holds to be true about
the world
* Value - enduring belief or feeling that a specific mode of conduct is personally or
socially preferable to another mode of conduct
* For example, the Japanese strive for cooperation, consensus, self-denial, and
harmony; because these represent feelings about modes of conduct, they represent
Japanese values
6. Religion
Religion is one important source of society’s beliefs, attitudes, and values. The world’s major
religions include: Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Christianity.
For example:
* Hindus do not eat beef, which means that McDonald’s does not serve hamburgers
made with beef in India.
* Following the September 11, 2001 attacks and war in Iraq, some Muslims urged a
boycott of American brands; Mecca-Cola was launched to replace Coca-Cola.
* Companies have profited from the love-hate relationship between Muslims and the
U.S.; Using Ramadan-themed advertising, KFC in Indonesia saw a 20% rise in sales.
Religion
* Whether references to God and Christianity should be included in the new
European constitution forms the center of a dispute among EU’s expanded 25
countries.
Aesthetics
* The sense of what is beautiful and what is not beautiful
* What represents good taste as opposed to tastelessness or even obscenity
* Visual – embodied in the color or shape of a product, label, or package
7. * Styles – various degrees of complexity, for example are perceived differently around
the world
Dietary Preferences
* Would you eat…..
* Reindeer (Finland)
* Rabbit (France)
* Rice, soup, and grilled fish for breakfast (Japan)
* Kimchi - Korea
* Blood sausage (Germany)
* A solid understanding of food-related cultural preferences is important for any
company that markets food or beverage products globally.
For example:
* Local companies can leverage superior cultural understanding to compete with large
foreign firms (e.g., Green Giant failed to market corn in Europe where corn is a grain
fed to hogs).
Marketing’s Impact on Culture
* Universal aspects of the cultural environment represent opportunities to standardize
elements of a marketing program
8. * Improved communications have contributed to a convergence of tastes and
preferences in a number of product categories
Marketing’s Impact on Culture
* Movement has 70,000 members in 35 countries
* “Slow food is about the idea that things should not taste the same everywhere.”
* Global dietary preferences are converging as "fast food" gains acceptance; families
are pressed for time, young people experiment with food, and tourism has exposed
people to new foods.
* Still, companies face a nationalist backlash; to counteract the exposure of its young
citizens to le Big Mac, the French Culinary Council designed a course on French
cuisine).
A MATTER OF CULTURE: Jollibee Takes on Ronald McDonald
* With 440 restaurants, Jollibee has twice as many outlets in the Philippines as
McDonald’s. CEO Tony Tan studied McDonald’s and built a regional empire by
tailoring menus, advertising, and store atmospherics to the Philippines. The
playgrounds, mascot, service, and execution are the same, but the menu is sweet and
spicy and more varied than competitors’. Since the mid-1990s, the company has been
pursuing growth both abroad and at home.
Q: What is Jollibee’s global strategy?
9. * A: Tan has restaurants in Asia, the Middle East, and the United States. He applies his
fast-food techniques to Chinese food, noting that the impact of the Chinese culture in
the Philippines, Asia, and elsewhere. Since Chinese food is popular, Tan has found a
new way to present it. Revenues for 2002 totaled $377 million.
Language and Communication
Language and Communication
* Verbal Cues
* Nonverbal cues or body language
Semantic issues arise in global marketing
* When Good Housekeeping magazine was launched in Japan, the closest translation in
Japanese meant “domestic duties.”
The challenges of nonverbal communication are formidable
* In the Middle East, Westerners must not reveal the soles of their shoes or pass
documents with the left hand
CULTURE WATCH: Using English as a Marketing Tool in Japan
* In Japan, consumer packaged goods have English, French, or German labels to
suggest a stylish, Western look. A Westerner may wonder what the copywriters wish
to achieve. English on the label of City Original Coffee proclaims "Ease Your Bosoms.
This coffee has carefully selected high quality beans and roasted by our all the
experience." The intended message: Drinking the coffee provides a relaxing break
and "takes a load off your chest." One expert believes these messages highlight
differences between Japanese and other languages. Many Western languages lack
exact equivalents for the rich variety of Japanese words that convey feelings. This
presents difficulties for copywriters trying to render feelings in a language other than
Japanese.
10. Q: Why are Japanese retailers unconcerned that the messages are syntactically suspect ?
* A: The Japanese marketers feel that as long as the message is in English, French or
German, it conveys hipness and helps sell a product. The Japanese are not really
expected to read it.
High- and Low-Context Cultures
* High Context
* Information resides in context
* Emphasis on background, basic values
* Less emphasis on legal paperwork
* Focus on personal reputation
* Saudi Arabia, Japan
* Low Context
* Messages are explicit and specific
* Words carry all information
* Reliance on legal paperwork
* Focus on non-personal documentation of credibility
* Switzerland, US, Germany
11. High- and Low-Context Cultures
* low-context culture (U.S. or Germany), deals are made with less information about
character, background, and values. Reliance is placed upon words and numbers.
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High- and Low-Context Cultures
Factor/Dimension High Context Low Context
Lawyers Less Important Very Important
A person’s word Is his/her bond Not reliable – get it in writing
Responsibility for
Organizational error
Taken by highest level Pushed to the lowest level
Space People breathe on each
other
Private space maintained
Time Polychronic Monochronic
Competitive Bidding Infrequent Common
Negotiations Lengthy- major purpose
is to allow the parties to
get to know each other
Proceed quickly
12. Hofstede’s Cultural Typology
* Power Distance
* Individualism / Collectivism
* Masculinity
* Uncertainty Avoidance
* Long-term Orientation
* Power distance is the extent to which the less powerful members of a society accept
power to be distributed unequally (e.g., Hong Kong and France are high power
distance cultures; low power distance characterizes Scandinavia).
Power Distance-
* . Hong Kong and France are ---------power distance cultures;
* HIGH
* ----------- power distance characterizes Scandinavia.
13. * LOW
* Masculinity describes a society in which men are expected to be assertive, competitive,
and concerned with material success, and women fulfill the role of nurturer and are
concerned with issues such as the welfare of children
* Femininity describes a society in which the social roles of men and women overlap,
with neither gender exhibiting overly ambitious or competitive behavior. Japan and
Austria ranked highest in masculinity; Spain, Taiwan, and France were among the
lowest
* An aggressive, achievement-oriented salesperson is better matched to Austria than to
Denmark.
Masculinity
* Japan and Austria ranked ------- in masculinity;
* HIGHEST
* Spain, Taiwan, the Netherlands and the Scandinavian countries were among the
--------
14. * LOWEST
* Hofstede's work gives marketers insights into product development, interacting with
joint venture partners, and conducting sales meetings (e.g., the Japanese notion of
gaman (persistence) meant that Sony engineers were not deterred by the slow
progress of their efforts).
* By understanding uncertainty avoidance, global marketers can assess the buyers’ risk
tolerance; In Japan and other Asian cultures with low tolerance for ambiguity,
advertising copy should stress warranties, money-back guarantees.
* Power distance, reflects the degree of trust; the higher the power distance (PDI), the
lower the level of trust; companies in high PDI cultures prefer sole ownership of
subsidiaries to provide more control.
* The collective-individual orientation is an important cultural component; In Japan,
team orientation and desire for wa (harmony) means that praising an individual in
front of peers is awkward.
15. * In highly individualistic cultures, ads often feature one person; in collectivist
countries, ads feature groups
* Hofstede's framework can provide insights into culturally appropriate consumer
brand images. Researchers distinguish three types of brand images: functional, social,
and sensory.
* A functional brand image is oriented toward problem solving and problem prevention.
* Products with a social brand image fulfill consumers' needs for group membership
and affiliation.
* A product with sensory appeal provides novelty, variety, and sensory gratification
* In countries with high in power distance, social brand images enhance brand
performance while functional benefits appeal more in countries with low power
distance.
* Research also showed that sensory brand images perform well in countries with high
individualism and social brand image strategies are effective in countries with low
individualism.
Self-Reference Criterion and Perception
* Unconscious reference to one’s own cultural values; creates cultural myopia
16. * How to Reduce Cultural Myopia:
* Define the problem or goal in terms of home country cultural traits
* Define the problem in terms of host-country cultural traits; make no value
judgments
* Isolate the SRC influence and examine it
* Redefine the problem without the SRC influence and solve
