Chapter 4 - Social and Cultural Environments Flashcards
Tasks of global marketers regarding social and cultural environment
- Study and understand the cultures of countries in which they will be doing business
- Understand how an unconscious reference to their own cultural values, or self‐reference criterion, may influence their perception of the market
- Incorporate this understanding into the marketing planning process
Define and explain the term culture
Culture–ways of living, built up by a group of human beings, that are transmitted from one generation to another
- Culture has both conscious and unconscious values, ideas, attitudes, and symbols
- Culture is acted out in social institutions
- These institutions reinforce cultural norms
- Culture is both physical (clothing and tools) and nonphysical (religion, attitudes, beliefs, and values)
Definition of culture by hofstede
“Culture is the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one category of people from those of another. ”
A nation, an ethnic group, a gender group, an organization, or a family may be considered as a category.
List social institutions that reinforce cultural norms
- Family
- Education
- Religion
- Government
- Business
List aspects of material (physical) and nonmaterial (abstract) culture
Physical:
– Clothing
– Tools
– Decorative art
– Body adornment
– Homes
Nonphysical:
– Religion
– Perceptions
– Attitudes
– Beliefs
– Values
Tell something about global consumer cultures
Global consumer cultures are emerging
– Persons who share meaningful sets of consumptionrelated symbols
– Pub culture, coffee culture, fast‐food culture, credit card culture, soccer culture
Primarily the product of a technologically interconnected world
– Internet
– Satellite TV
Define attitudes, beliefs, values, and subcultures
- Attitude–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
- Subcultures—smaller groups of people with their own shared attitudes, beliefs, & values (ex. Vegetarians)
What are the worlds major religions and how does religion affect global marketing?
The world’s major religions include Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism and are an important source of beliefs, attitudes, and values.
Religious tenets, practices, holidays, and history impact global marketing activities
Describe aesthetics in context of different cultures and societies of global marketing
- The sense of what is beautiful and what is not beautiful
- What represents good taste as opposed to tastelessness or even obscenity
Visual–embodied in the color or shape of a product, label, or package
Styles–various degrees of complexity, for example, are perceived differently around the world
Aesthetics and Colour - Describe different effects of red, blue, white, and gray
Red–associated with blood, wine‐making, activity, heat, and vibrancy in many countries but is poorly received in some African countries.
Blue—since the pigment was rare, ancient Egyptians, Chinese, Mayans associated it with royalty and divinity. Half of interviewees state blue is the favorite color.
White–identified with purity and cleanliness in the West, with death in parts of Asia.
Gray–means inexpensive in Japan and China, but high quality and expensive in the U.S.
Describe music in context of different cultures and societies of global marketing
*Found in all cultures
*Rhythm is universal
*Styles are associated with countries or regions: bossa nova & Argentina, salsa &Cuba, reggae& Jamaica, blues, rap, rock, country & U.S.
*Understand what style is appropriate in advertising; varies by culture and government regulations
Describe dietary preferences in context of different cultures and societies
- Domino’s Pizza pulled out of Italy because its products were seen as “too American” with bold tomato sauce and heavy toppings.
- Domino’s is India’s largest foreign fast‐food chain with over 700 stores. It’s success is attributed to localized toppings.
- Dunkin’ Donuts morning business in India was slow. Indians eat breakfast at home. Business took off after it introduced the Original Tough Guy Chicken Burger for later time of day.
Although some food preferences are deeply rooted in culture, global dietary preferences are converging.
- Pasta, pizza, sushi, other ethic foods
Describe language and communication in context of different cultures and societies
- Semiotics—the study of signs and their meanings
- Semiotics includes both spoken and unspoken language
- Unspoken language includes gestures, touching, body language
- Spoken language has four areas
Spoken and verbal language - List linguistic categories and give examples on how this differs in various cultures
Syntax-rules of sentence formation
- English has relatively fixed word order; Russian has relatively free word order.
Semantics-system of meaning
- Japanese words convey nuances of feeling for which other languages lack exact correlations; ‘yes’ and ‘no’ can be interpreted differently than in other languages.
Phonology-system of sound patterns
- Japanese does not distinguish between the sounds ‘l’ and ‘r’; English and Russian both have ‘l’ and ‘r’ sounds.
Morphology-word formatation
- Russian is a highly inflected language, with six different case endings for nouns and adjectives; English has fewer inflections.
Describe pronounciation problems in context of different culture
- Colgate in Spanish means “go hang yourself”
- IKEA hired linguists to rename products in Thailand because they had sexual connotations
- Whirlpool spent large sums on advertising only to find out that French, Italian & German consumers could not pronounce the brand name
- Diesel brand name was chosen because it is pronounced the same in all languages
