The role of national culture in international marketing
Let me introduce the topic of my English seminar work which is the role of national culture in
international marketing. Nowadays, success in general is determined by the amount of
knowledge and information that a certain company or individual possesses. Knowing the
culture of a country or a region in which a company wants to launch its business is as
essential as believing in strength of a company’s product. In my seminar work I will
demonstrate the importance of this acquirement, starting with the explanation of the meaning
of the word culture, followed by some straight-up examples of flops and accomplishments
achieved by a number of world known companies.
At first, we should pay attention to the word culture, as it plays a huge part in the whole
concept of my research. This word has many different meanings. English Anthropologist
Edward B. Tylor said that culture is "that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief,
art, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member
of society." However, for most of us, ordinary people, it refers to an appreciation of good
literature, music, art, and food, etc. It is constantly changing and easily lost because it exists
only in our minds. Our written languages, governments, buildings, and other man-made
things are the products of culture.
There are very likely three levels of culture that are part of our learned behavior patterns and
perceptions. When people speak of french, Slovak, or Chinese culture, they are referring to
the shared language, traditions, and beliefs that set each of these peoples apart from others. In
most cases, those who share your culture do so because they gained it as they were raised by
parents and other family members who have it.
The second layer of culture that may be part of your identity is a subculture. In general,
various societies often keep a lot of their original cultural traditions. As a result, they are lpart
of a subculture in their new society. Examples of subcultures in the United States include
ethnic groups such as Vietnamese Americans, African Americans, and Mexican Americans.
Members of each of these subcultures share a common identity, food tradition, dialect or
language, and other cultural traits that come from their common background and experience.
The third layer of culture consists of cultural universals. These are learned behavior patterns
that are shared by all of humanity collectively. Examples of such "human cultural" traits for
example include:
1.
communicating with a verbal language
2.
using age and gender to classify people
3.
classifying people based on marriage and relationships
4.
raising children in some sort of family setting
5.
having a concept of privacy
6.
having rules to regulate sexual behavior
7.
distinguishing between good and bad behavior
8.
making jokes and playing games
9.
having art
10.
having some sort of leadership roles
Now that we know how complex the meaning of the word culture is and how many different
layers it consists of, we can see how important it is for marketing workers to know the culture
of the people in a certain country in which they want their product to be promoted. Not
knowing the culture of such country, the company’s attempt to launch a business there may
lead to an enormous failure. As an example, we can use the cultural diversity in Nigeria.
Every form of culture is identified in term of language. Language is a vehicle of culture. In
short every language serves as a vehicle of the culture of the people who speak that language.
In Nigeria there are 374 ethnic languages and groups. Some languages are found in more than
one state. For example Yoruba is in six states, Igbos in four states, and Annang, Efik and
Ibibio in two states. Hausa cuts across all the states in the North. These languages affect
consumer behavior. To make consumer accept a product, language is used to promote the
product. Advertising, personal selling, sales promotion and publicity cannot be effectively
used without understanding the language. You could hardly sell a book written in Slovak
somewhere in a Chinese town. A company needs to understand this in going into any nations
for any type of business.
Another element of culture is religion. In many countries, religion still plays a huge role in
decision making of many people. There are three main religions in Africa: Traditional
religion, Christianity and Islam. The development of man cannot be completed without one
type of religion or another. In Nigeria, Christianity dominates the South, while Islam
dominates the North and both are traditionally practiced in these areas.
Religions affect consumption behaviors and the purchase habit of the individual. For instance,
Islam in the North does not allow production and distribution of alcohol, whereas in the South
alcoholic beverages are sold everywhere. Because of religion some married women cannot
move publicly as they like, or cannot talk to strange men under any circumstances. A
company could not open a restaurant where they would serve pork and male waiters would
interfere with female guests. All these affect an organization’s marketing performance. They
must adapt their product and promotion to suit their area of operation.
Cultural influence in Nigeria is only one example of many other countries where international
companies’ products or ways of marketing were not welcome. Let’s take a look at famous and
world known brands who have met various types of challenges in attempt to broaden their
business horizons and some countries where these challenges have been experienced. As we
will see, some of them have failed, while others have learned from previous mistakes and
walked out as winners.
1. Muslim world
As most of us know, Islam is a very strict religion. It controls all the aspects of every
Muslim’s life. The law of Sharia regulates all human activities, which include eating,
shopping, banking, living and many other patterns. One of the Muslim countries that are the
strictest is without any doubt Saudi Arabia. This is the list of just a few items and things
forbidden there:

Women Drivers
Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world that bans all women, Saudi and foreign, from
driving. The prohibition forces families to hire personal drivers, and women who cannot
afford around 400 dollars a month for a driver must rely on male relatives to drive them to
work, school, shopping or the doctor. They cannot get an education, mingle with men in
public unless family, travel or check into a hotel without a male guardian’s permission.

Dolls
Saudi Arabia has banned imports of female dolls and teddy bears, and shopkeepers have been
given three months to dispose of any stock. The ban also applies to non-Islamic religious
symbols, such as crosses and statues of the Buddha.

Anything Red / Valentine’s Day
Saudi Arabia has asked florists and gift shops to remove all red items until after Valentine’s
Day, calling the celebration of such a holiday a sin. Every year, conservative Muslim
kingdom’s moral police clamp down on shops a few days before February 14, making them
remove red roses, red wrapping paper, gift boxes and teddy bears.

Books & Movies
Censorship is common practice in the country of Saudi Arabia, where authorities in the
conservative kingdom frequently tear out pages from newspapers and magazines before they
are allowed to hit the newsstands. The ban extends from popular Hollywood films to fashion
magazines and anything remotely pornographic.
These are just some examples of items forbidden in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. All these
laws have to be considered by an international organization when entering this country’s
market. Automobile companies have to respect the fact that potential customers are formed by
only approx. half of the country’s population. American leading producer of toys Mattel
cannot offer their most successful toy of all times, the Barbie doll to the Saudi Arabian
markets. Saudi laws give hard times even to the furniture company IKEA. Images of women
are always airbrushed from copies of the Swedish-based retailer's seasonal catalog shipped to
the religiously conservative Islamic kingdom, arguing that a woman body should not be
exposed to the public under any circumstances and in any form. Florists, gift card companies
and many gift shops would definitely not succeed with the introductions of their Valentine
Day’s collection to this limited market and movie producers would surely not concentrate the
promotion of their new films in this Middle East country.
However, the bigger the corporation, the more financial resources can be set apart on the
research of a potential market. Many transnational firms hire professionals whose major
missions are to investigate unfamiliar environments, possible consumers, their mentality,
languages, moral standards and the whole culture of the country of their origin.

Barbie vs. Fulla
Most of the time, these companies end up being successful and find their way of filling a gap
in a market that could not be filled by a local firm. However, there are some examples of
strong international companies who have failed trying to take over a new market. For many
years, American manufacturer of the famous Barbie doll, Mattel, was trying to win hearts of
young Muslim girls all over the Middle East. Although they have been making satisfactory
profits, they were soon surprised by a fast and genial reaction of a company knowledgeable of
Muslim people’s conservative minds. NewBoy Design Studio, based in Syria, introduced
Fulla, in November 2003, and she has quickly become a best seller all over the region. Fulla is
a dark-eyed doll with, as her creator puts it, "Muslim values." The very popular Fulla doll is
sold in the Middle East wearing either a black abaya or a white head scarf and long coat.
Under these modest clothes, the dolls wear fashionable dresses. She is named after a type of
jasmine that grows in the Levant, and although she has an extensive and beautiful wardrobe,
Fulla is usually displayed wearing her modest outdoor clothes. Young girls all over the
Middle East are obsessed with Fulla, and conservative parents who would not dream of
buying Barbies for their daughters seem happy to pay for a modest doll who has her own tiny
prayer rug. Children who like the pink aspect of the Barbie doll can buy a matching prayer
rug and cotton scarf set, all in pink. In Saudi Arabia, animated commercials display Fulla's
life, such as showing the doll reciting morning prayer, baking a cake to surprise her friend, or
reading a book at bedtime.
While Fulla doll was conquering Middle East’s toy markets, Mattel could not hide their
amazement over NewBoy Design Studio’s contrivance. The American company missed all
the signs of a free market gap that was waiting to be filled. Many people say that it was
a result of the company‘s ignorance of the region’s culture and traditions. If Mattel could be
less oriented on trying to enforce American values into Muslim culture and be more open
minded, they could have won the leading market position in another corner of the world.

Coca-cola vs. Mecca-Cola
Another example of taking a chance and transforming it into a prosperous business is Mecca
Cola World Company ( named after the holiest city in the religion of Islam), a company that
started its journey account on boycotts and protests against United States over its support for
Israel. US exports of Coca-Cola to Saudi Arabia declined by more than 40% in the first three
months of 2002, as a result of these boycotts, which assisted Mecca-Cola with an interesting
slogan „ Think Muslim, drink Muslim“ in the increase of sell. It is widely known that Islam is
a religion that strongly rejects any form of capitalism, and even though Coca- Cola as
a company has nothing to do with capitalism itself, in many Muslims’eyes, Coke walks hand
in hand with evil forces of this economic and political system. One of the main attractions for
buyers is the fact that 10% of the profits go to charities operating in Palestinian territories and
10% to European NGOs. While Coca-Cola's revenues in the Middle East represent less than
2% of its global business, it has always lagged behind Pepsi in the region and now, even
a stronger competitor has found its way how to block out the world’s leading producer of this
fizzy drink. For most of the Muslims, Coke is a synonym of America. Red color, retro font
and the main Coke’s character, Santa Claus are more than unattractive for customers whose
culture represents everything but American way of life. Maybe if Coca-cola tried to ease its
American influence in the Islamic region, it would be the leading seller of this popular dark
drink even there. In only they chose a different character for their commercials or tried
another substitute to their original ways of marketing. Unfortunately, some companies simply
lack understanding and awareness of different mentalities.
2. Hindu world
All of us know that India is one of the most populous countries in the world. And some of us
even know that 80% out of 1,2 billion people practice Hinduism as their religion. How does it
influence international corporations trying to launch their businesses here? Let’s take a look at
how the king of all world’s fastfoods conformed its enterprise plan to special needs of Hindu
people’s culture.

McDonald’s
When you walk into a McDonald's in India, it doesn't feel that much different from one in
Slovakia or the U.S. That is, until you try to order. When McDonald's first came to India 15
years ago, it tested the Big Macs and Quarter Pounders to see how they would fit in in a
country where cows are sacred and most people are vegetarian. The fastfood restaurant tried
re-creating its American classics with lamb, but it was a big failure. Nowadays, It is the only
country in the world for sure that does not offer beef at all. Maybe other countries may do
pork burgers, but in India, they definitely have no pork or beef at all. Instead of ground beef,
Indian burgers are 100 percent vegetarian - burger look-a-likes of potatoes, peas, and carrots,
with a little Indian spice thrown in. You can find some chicken and fish sandwiches in Indian
location of the American chain, however, more than a half of their menu includes only
vegetarian alternatives such as McAloo Tikki potato burger. Now, McDonald’s has gone even
further. It had opened its first 100 percent vegetarian McDonald's in India. This Asian country
has been a huge experiment for McDonald's. The issue in India is, a vegetarian is a strict
vegetarian. There are some situations where a person who's vegetarian would not even sit
with a person who's eating non-vegetarian food. It is that level of seriousness.
McDonald’s, being the world’s biggest fast food chain has always known that if they ever
wanted to succeed in a country whose culture is strictly influenced by the religion of
Hinduism, they had to take all of the religion’s aspects in consideration. Having the financial
capital for a new environment research, good marketing strategies and being willing to give
up on original company’s image in order to launch an effective business on new markets,
McDonald’s is on a good way to getting a Hindu customer on its side. Moreover, McDonald’s
uses special strategies all over the world according to gastronomy factors of diverse demands
of the corporation‘s customers ( McSyr in Slovakia, Wiener Breakfast in Austria etc.).
These are only some examples of companies and fundamental elements affecting a company’s
success in an environment of an unfamiliar culture. Finally, all firms have to adopt some
useful remedies to overcome cultural influences affecting their operations. These include:
product adaptation, promotional adaptation and new product innovation with the above in use.
Having all these factors figured out, a company is on a good way to reaching triumph.
Použitá literature
Internetové stránky
http://repository.kulib.kyoto-u.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/2433/68203/1/ASM_22_93.pdf
http://anthro.palomar.edu/culture/culture_1.htm
http://retardzone.com/2008/09/05/complete-guide-to-things-banned-in-saudi-arabia/
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/22/international/middleeast/22doll.html?_r=0
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2640259.stm
http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-500522_162-2640540.html
EKONOMICKÁ UNIVERZITA V BRATISLAVE
THE ROLE OF NATIONAL CULTURE IN INTERNATIONAL MARKETING
Školský rok: 2012/2013
Fakulta: OF
Študent: Martina Kubičková
Krúžok: POCR 5