© 2007 McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., McGraw-Hill/Irwin
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PART II: EXTERNAL INFLUENCES
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CHAPTER
2
CROSSCULTURAL
VARIATIONS IN
CONSUMER
BEHAVIOR
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Consumer Behavior In The News…
SUV’s in China?
 Yes!
 Expect SUV Segment to be 20% of Market in
2009 (up from 8% in 2004).
 Barriers:
 Drivers:
 Will Trend Sustain in Face of Rising Fuel
Costs?
Source: J. B. White, “China’s SUV Surge,” The Wall Street Journal, June 10, 2004, p. B1, B3
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Consumer Behavior In The News…
SUV’s in China?
 Yes!
 Expect SUV Segment to be 20% of Market in
2009 (up from 8% in 2004).
 Barriers: Traffic Jams, Gov’t Push to Conserve
Fuel, Cost of Fuel
 Drivers: Bold Image, Greater Capacity, Safety
 Will Trend Sustain in Face of Rising Fuel
Costs?
Source: J. B. White, “China’s SUV Surge,” The Wall Street Journal, June 10, 2004, p. B1, B3
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Marketing Across Cultural Boundaries is
a Difficult and Challenging Task
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The Concept of Culture
Culture is the
complex whole that
includes knowledge,
belief, art, law,
morals, customs,
and any other
capabilities and
habits acquired by
humans as members
of society.
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The Concept of Culture
Although pizza is eaten most everywhere,
what is on the pizza can be quite different!
Pepperoni
Squid
BBQ
Chicken
Tuna & Corn
Black
Bean
Sauce
Eggs
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The Concept of Culture
Cultural values give
rise to norms and
associated sanctions,
which in turn influence
consumption patterns.
Cultures are not static.
They typically evolve
and change slowly over
time.
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Variations in Cultural Values
The numerous values that differ across
cultures and affect consumption include:
Other-Oriented Values
Environment-Oriented Values
Self-Oriented Values
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Variations in Cultural Values
Other-Oriented Values
Reflect a society’s view
of the appropriate
relationships between
individuals and groups
within that society.
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Variations in Cultural Values
Environment-Oriented Values
Prescribe a society’s
relationship to its
economic and technical
as well as its physical
environment.
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Variations in Cultural Values
Self-Oriented Values
Reflect the objectives and approaches to life that
the individual members of society find desirable.
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Variations in Cultural Values
Other-Oriented Values
Individual/Collective
Youth/Age
Extended/Limited Family
Masculine/Feminine
Competitive/Cooperative
Diversity/Uniformity
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Variations in Cultural Values
Other-Oriented Values
Individual/Collective
Are individual activity and initiative valued more highly
than collective activity and conformity?
Asian cultures more
collective
U.S. culture more
individualistic
pp. 46 questions
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Variations in Cultural Values
Other-Oriented Values
Youth/Age
Is family life organized
to meet the needs of
the children or the
adults?
Are younger or older
people viewed as
leaders and role
models?
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Variations in Cultural Values
Other-Oriented Values
Extended/Limited Family
To what extent does
one have a life-long
obligation to
numerous family
members?
Extended family
critical in South/
Central America
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Variations in Cultural Values
Other-Oriented Values
Masculine/Feminine
To what extend does social power automatically go to
males?
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Variations in Cultural Values
Other-Oriented Values
Competitive/Cooperative
Does one obtain
success by excelling
over others or by
cooperating with
them?
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Variations in Cultural Values
Other-Oriented Values
Diversity/Uniformity
Does the culture embrace variation in religious belief,
ethnic background, political views, and other important
behaviors and attitudes?
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Variations in Cultural Values
Environment-Oriented Values
Cleanliness
Performance/Status
Tradition/Change
Risk taking/Security
Problem solving/Fatalistic
Nature
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Variations in Cultural Values
Environment-Oriented Values
Cleanliness
To what extent is
cleanliness pursued
beyond the minimum
needed for health?
U.S. very high on personal
hygiene – some think to an
extreme!
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Variations in Cultural Values
Environment-Oriented Values
Performance/Status
Is the culture’s reward system based on performance or on
inherited factors such as family or class?
Closely related to the concept of
power distance, which refers to
the degree to which people
accept inequality in power,
authority, status, and wealth as
natural or inherent in society.
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Variations in Cultural Values
Environment-Oriented Values
Tradition/Change
Is tradition valued simply for the sake of tradition? Is
change or “progress” an acceptable reason for altering
established patterns?
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Variations in Cultural Values
Environment-Oriented Values
Tradition/Change (Cont.)
A focus on technology as an indicator of change illustrates
some dramatic differences across cultures that show the
following:
The above represent Internet users and cell phones as a percent of total population
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Variations in Cultural Values
Environment-Oriented Values
Risk taking/Security
Are those who risk their established positions to
overcome obstacles or achieve high goals admired more
than those who do not?
A society that does not admire risk taking is unlikely to
develop enough entrepreneurs to achieve economic
change and growth.
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Variations in Cultural Values
Environment-Oriented Values
Problem solving/Fatalistic
Are people encouraged to overcome all problems,
or do they take a “what will be, well be” attitude?
Is there an optimistic, “we can do it” orientation?
Mexico and Middle-East Countries tend to fall
toward the fatalistic end of the continuum.
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Variations in Cultural Values
Environment-Oriented Values
Nature
Is nature regarded as something to be admired or
overcome?
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Variations in Cultural Values
Self-Oriented Values
Active/Passive
Sensual gratification/Abstinence
Material/Nonmaterial
Hard work/Leisure
Postponed gratification/Immediate gratification
Religious/Secular
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Variations in Cultural Values
Self-Oriented Values
Active/Passive
Is a physically active approach to life valued more
highly than a less active orientation?
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Variations in Cultural Values
Self-Oriented Values
Sensual gratification/Abstinence
To what extent is it acceptable to enjoy sensual pleasures
such as food, drink, and sex?
Cultures differ in their acceptance of sensual gratification.
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Applications in Consumer Behavior
Ad for Calvin Klein
underwear:
OK in U.S. and
France.
Not appropriate in
cultures that place a
high value on
abstinence.
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Variations in Cultural Values
Self-Oriented Values
Material/Nonmaterial
How much importance is attached to the acquisition of
material wealth?
Two types of materialism:
1. Instrumental materialism – is the acquisition of
things to enable one to do something.
2. Terminal materialism – is the acquisition of items for
the sake of owning the item itself.
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Variations in Cultural Values
Self-Oriented Values
Hard work/Leisure
Is a person who works harder than economically
necessary admired more than one who does not?
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Variations in Cultural Values
Self-Oriented Values
Postponed gratification/Immediate gratification
Are people encouraged to “save for a rainy day” or to
“live for today”?
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Variations in Cultural Values
Self-Oriented Values
Religious/Secular
To what extent are behaviors and attitudes based on
the rules specified by a religious doctrine?
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Cultural Variations in Nonverbal
Communications
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Cultural Variations in Nonverbal
Communications
Time
The meaning of time varies
between cultures in two major
ways:
•
Time perspective—the
culture’s overall orientation
toward time (monochronic
vs. polychronic)
•
Interpretations assigned to
specific uses of time
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Cultural Variations in Nonverbal
Communications
Space
•
Overall use and meanings
assigned to space vary widely
among different cultures
-how office space is
allocated
-Personal space
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Cultural Variations in Nonverbal
Communications
Symbols
Colors, animals, shapes,
numbers, and music have
varying meanings across
cultures.
Failure to recognize the
meaning assigned to a symbol
can cause serious problems!
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Cultural Variations in Nonverbal
Communications
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Cultural Variations in Nonverbal
Communications
Relationships
How quickly and easily do cultures
form relationships and make friends?
•Americans tend to form relationships
and friends quickly and easily.
•Chinese relationships are much more
complex. Under the concept of guanxi,
an individual can draw upon personal
connections/relationships to secure
resources or advantages when doing
business as well as in the course of
social life.
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Cultural Variations in Nonverbal
Communications
Agreements
How does a culture ensure
business obligations are
honored? How are
disagreements resolved?
Some cultures rely on a legal
system; others rely on
relationships, friendships, kinship,
local moral principles, or informal
customs to guide business
conduct.
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Cultural Variations in Nonverbal
Communications
Things
The cultural meaning of things leads
to purchase patterns that one would
not otherwise predict.
The differing meanings that cultures
attach to things, including products,
make gift-giving a particularly difficult
task.
For example, what type of gift is
appropriate and when does receipt
of a gift “require” a gift in return?
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Cultural Variations in Nonverbal
Communications
Etiquette
The generally accepted ways of behaving in
social situations.
Behaviors considered rude or obnoxious in one
culture may be quite acceptable in another!
Normal voice tone, pitch, and speed of speech
differ between cultures and languages, as do the
use of gestures.
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Cultural Variations in Nonverbal
Communications
Etiquette
Meishi is an important aspect of Japanese
business etiquette…”a man without a Meishi has
no identity in Japan.” What is Meishi? It is the
exchange of business cards!
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Global Cultures
A Global Teenage Culture?
•Mass media and the Internet have
had an impact of uniformity among
teens around the world.
•They tend to watch many of the
same shows, see the same movies
and videos, listen to the same music,
and they tend to dress alike.
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Global Demographics
Demographics describe a population in terms of its size,
structure, and distribution.
•Demographics are both a result and a
cause of cultural values.
•For example, densely populated
societies, such as China, are likely to
have more of a collective orientation
than an individualistic one.
•Disposable income is one aspect of
demographics--the rapid growth in
personal income in parts of China has led
to an overall market explosion!
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Global Demographics
A critical aspect of demographics for
marketers is income--specifically the
distribution of income.
One country with a relatively low
average income can have a sizable
middle-income segment, while another
country with the same average income
may have most of the wealth in the
hands of a few individuals.
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Global Demographics
Country
GDP
% of total income (to
(per capita)
top 10%)
Brazil
$ 7,600
China
5,000
30
27,700
28
37,800
31
United
Kingdom
United States
48%
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Global Demographics
Marketers increasingly use Purchasing Power Parity (PPP)
rather than average or median income to evaluate markets.
PPP is based on the cost of a standard market basket of
products bought in each country.
The following shows the same countries in terms of PPP:
Country
Per Capita Income
Per Capita PPP
Brazil
$ 7,600
$ 7,480
China
1,100
4,990
United Kingdom
28,350
27,650
United States
37,610
37,500
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Cross-Cultural Marketing Strategy
Considerations in Approaching a Foreign Market
1. Homogeneous versus Heterogeneous with Respect to
Culture?
2. What Needs Can the Product Fill in this Culture?
3. Can Enough People Afford the Product?
4. What Values are Relevant to the Purchase and Use of the
Product?
5. What are the Distribution, Political and Legal Structures for
the Product?
6. In What Ways Can We Communicate About the Product?
7. What are the Ethical Implications of Marketing This Product
in This Country?
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Applications in Consumer Behavior
Adaptation is Often
Required in CrossCultural Marketing.
Here, McDonald’s
uses a Popular
Chinese Sports
Celebrity.
GOH CHAI HIN/AFP/Getty Images
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