Social and Cultural
Environments
Global Marketing
Culture is…
…a system of values and norms that
are shared among a group of people
and constitute a design for living
by Hofstede
Acculturation
Adjusting or adapting to a specific culture
other than one’s own. It is a key managerial
factor of success in international operations
Culture #2:
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Ways of living, built up by a group of human
beings, transmitted from one generation to
another
Social institutions
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Family; Education; Religion; Government;
Business – all included in the term of culture
Material vs. Non-material
Culture
Physical components of culture
 Objects
 Artifacts
 Clothing; Tools; Pictures; Homes
 Subjective or abstract culture
 Religion
 Perceptions; Attitudes
 Beliefs; Values
Marketing: is able to influence and often to change both
physical and abstract cultures (Global Teens, Yuppies)
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Cultural Universals: interacting
dimensions of a culture (Murdock)
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Athletics - Body
adornment
Cooking
Courtship
Decorative arts
Education
Ethics
Property rights
Religious rituals
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Etiquette
Family feasting - Food
taboos
Language
Marriage
Mealtime
Mourning
Music
Status differentiation
Beliefs and Attitudes
Values and Norms
Values: shared beliefs about what is right and wrong.
How things ought to be?
Ex: Is “being selfish” appropriate or not?
Aesthetics
Aesthetics: Values and norms about beauty and taste
Marketing and aesthetics: local and regional tastes require
modifications in the 4Ps
Aesthetics and Color
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What do you associate with Red?
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With White?
Dietary Preferences
What would you eat?
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Reindeer (Finland)
Rabbit or frogs (France)
Rice, soup, and grilled fish for breakfast (Japan)
Raw Fish (Japan)
Kimchi (fermented veggies, Korea)
Blood / Black sausage (Germany, Scotland,
Hungary)
Language and Communication
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Verbal Language: spoken language, including
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Morphology: how words are formed, are they similar to other
languages
Syntax: rules of grammar, sentence formation
Phonology: how they pronounce the words
Semantics: the meaning of the words
Nonverbal Language
Measuring Cultural Differences:
High Context Cultures (Hall)
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Information resides in context
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It’s very important where, how, with whom, and at
what time we conduct business
Measuring Cultural Differences:
Low Context Cultures
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Messages are explicit and specific
Words carry all information
High vs. Low Context
Factors
High Context
Low Context
Lawyers
Less important
Very important
A person’s word
His or her bond
Must “get it in writing”
Responsibility Accepted at highest level
Pushed to lowest level
Personal Space
Close
Private space needed
Time
Polychronic
Monochronic
Negotiations
Lengthy
Proceed quickly
Competitive bidding
Infrequent
Common
Measuring Cultural Differences:
Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions
(Geert Hofstede, Dutch social-psychologist)
Ethnocentrism and the
Self-Reference Criterion
Potential Problems in Management
The International Product Life Cycle:
There is no uniform diffusion process
Environmental Sensitivity: greatly influences the
degree of product adoption in a country
NESTLE
COMPAQ
INTEL