Culture has a significant impact on international marketing. Geert Hofstede identified five cultural dimensions that influence behavior: power distance, individualism vs collectivism, masculinity vs femininity, uncertainty avoidance, and long-term orientation. Elements of culture like values, attitudes, beliefs, language, and social norms shape consumption processes including access, buying behavior, product use, and disposal. Marketers must understand how cultural factors influence thinking, decisions, and preferences to develop effective marketing strategies for different countries and regions. Failing to consider cultural differences can lead to embarrassing mistakes in international markets.

1. IMPACT OF CULTURE IN
INTERNATIONAL MARKETING
Presented by:
ANU DAMODARAN
AUD0260

2. Culture – Ways of living, built up by a group
of human beings, that are transmitted from
one generation to another.
“Culture is the collective programming of the
mind that distinguishes the members of one
category of people from those of another.”
- Geert Hofstede
Hofstede’s cultural dimensions:
 Power Distance
 Individualism / Collectivism
 Masculinity
 Uncertainty Avoidance
 Long-term Orientation6/30/2014 2

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5. Elements of culture:
Material life
Language
Social interaction
Aesthetics
Religion
Education
Value system
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
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6. Global marketers need to become sensitive to
cultural biases that influence their
thinking, behavior, and decision
making. Culture is a key pillar of the
marketplace.
Having an understanding of the
culture can actually become a
firm’s competitive advantage.
Within a given culture, consumption processes can
include four stages:
 Access (economic and physical),
 buying behavior (Price, Brand, Country of origin,
social norms),
 consumption characteristics (product/service,
rural/urban, influence of reference group), and
disposal (recycle, social responsibility)
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7. Buying behavior - Japanese consumers expect
to see what the food looks like before ordering
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8. Product Policy: Certain products are more culture-bound than other
products. Food, beverages, and clothing products tend to be very culture-
bound.
Pricing Policy: Pricing policies are driven by four Cs:
 Customers
 Company (costs, objectives, strategy)
 Competition
 Collaborators (e.g., distributors)
Distribution Policy: Cultural variables may also dictate distribution
strategies. Ex: small shop, supermarket, internet)
Promotion Policy: Promotion is the most visible marketing mix. Culture
will typically have a major influence on a firm’s communication strategy.
Local cultural taboos and norms also influence advertising styles
(language, religion, law).
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9. Overlooking cultural
differences can result in
embarrassingmistakes. Nike
found that this stylized “Air”
logoresembled“Allah”in
Arabicscript
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10. Global MarketProduct Strategies
Straight product expansion (only labelling and packaging
changes)
Marketing the product with no changes
Product adaptation
Altering the product to meet local
conditions or the wants of the foreign
market (P &G introduces Tide in emerging markets),
large size or small size packaging (shampoo,
toothpaste)
Product invention
Creating new products or services for
foreign markets (alcohol free beer, CP hand powered
washing machine)
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11. Standardized Marketing Mix
Same basic product,
advertising, distribution, and
other elements of the
marketing mix are used in all
international markets.
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12. AdaptedMarketingMix
The marketing
mix elements
are adjusted
for each
international
target market.
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13. Global Distribution Channels
 Seller’s
headquarters
organization
 Channels between
nations
 Channels within
nations
 Numbers & types
of intermediaries6/30/2014 13

14. Global Promotion Strategies
Standardized global
communication
Advertising themes are
standardized
from country to country
with slight
modifications
Communication adaptation
Advertising messages are
fully
adapted to local markets
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16. Because of technologies such as satellite TV, Internet, cell phones, and other
communication channels marketers have begun to see the emergence of the global
consumer. The hallmark of this culture is consumption. Persons who share meaningful
sets of consumption-related symbols
Pop culture; coffee culture; fast-food culture
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U48nmKPJclA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6coDUDCJ10
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFwuQgyyCE
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