Chapter 8
Culture & International Business
• 8.1 Customs and Culture
• A nation’s laws, language, technology, art, music, and
literature define its culture.
• The social habits and traditional behaviors of people (ex:
food, clothing) are the customs of people.
• Customs are the ways
in which cultural
behaviours are performed
• These factors play a huge part when
trading internationally. To avoid loss in
business, countries must study each
other’s culture. In order to truly
understand, you must learn about how the
culture is developed.
The three main cultural determinants
are:
1.Geography – climate, size, population
density, location, e.g. in Canada, the way
we dress, eat, travel, spend leisure time –
hockey fans. We are weather-obsessed.
2.History
• immigration patterns, conflicts with other nations, political
background,
• e.g. in Canada, our attempts to define and protect our
culture against cultural domination by the United States,
• the contribution of all the various immigrant groups, as
well as the Aboriginal Peoples, our connection with the
British political system
3. Religion
• the importance of the belief system that is shared
by large groups within a country, e.g. JudeoChristian values as part of the educational system
• religious tolerance encourages contributions from
other religious groups, the importance of religious
institutions such as mosques, synagogues,
churches, cemeteries, and burial grounds
8.2. Culture and Consumer Needs and
Wants
• People use products that reflect their cultural values.
If a product is not part of the culture, then often
consumers resist purchasing it.
• Cultural marketing uses marketing resources to
create effective international marketing campaigns
that will appeal to consumers in specific countries.
• When a Canadian company tries to identify the
cultural composition of a target market in a foreign
country, it may ask questions like:
• How is this market similar to Canada’s market?
• How is this market different from Canada’s market?
• International marketers need to take cultural
differences, such as customs, attitudes and
traditions, into consideration, when going into
international markets in order to be able to
successfully sell their products. The marketing
approaches, used by Citrus Marketing Board
of Israel, are reflected in their successful
international sales of oranges:
Country
•
•
•
•
•
•
Finland
France
England
Italy
Norway
Japan
Marketing Approach
The Viking spirit
Independent spirit and fashion
Ease of juicing /peeling
Sweetness and health
Quick energy
Gift item
8.3. Culture and International
Business Practices
Some factors that Canadian business people
need to remember when negotiating with
people form other countries may include:
1. Negotiating styles
2. Languages
3. Gestures
4. Forms of greetings
5. Style of dress
6. Business protocol, e.g. gift giving and
punctuality
8.4 Disappearing Diversity
• Today, we see more of a disappearing
diversity where international businesses are
developing a type of global culture, where
everyone on earth has some of the same
business icons, advertisements, products, and
packages as common cultural reference
points.
Pros and Cons of the disappearance of
cultural boundaries around the globe:
Pros
 The “other” becomes the
“us”
 Availability of advanced
products helps other
nations.
 Immigration and travel
permit a wider
understanding of other
cultures and promote world
peace.
Cons
 Cultural domination by the
major corporations with
skillful marketers can
manipulate the global
consumer
 Encouragement of unsafe
practices in other countries
with less regulation affects the
culture negatively (e.g.
substituting Nestlé powdered
formula for breast feeding in
poorer countries, advertising
cigarettes to your people, etc.)