Theme 5 - Communication across cultures

Question 1

Why should firms go global?

Answer 1

COMPETITION

• less competition overseas
  eg: Starbucks creating the market for leisurely coffee
  eg: M&S moving to Asian markets

PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE DIFFERENCES

• New opportunities for products at the end of their lifecycle due to timelags or cultural differences
  eg: Harley Davidson popular in Asia

EXCESS CAPACITY

• Excess production capacity enables new products to be made for international markets
  eg: Excess steel in China

COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE

• Advantages through technology, skills, materials
  eg: pharmaceuticals in Germany

FINANCIAL
- Investment opportunities, venture capital available, growth in overseas investors.

ORGANISATIONAL ISSUES
- Mergers and acquisitions may for the international issue

Question 2

What is the commonness of thought?

Answer 2

Use communications to talk to everyone about your product. It is about common thoughts between suppliers, people handling services - broadly educate all those in your firm.

eg: Starbucks using in store experience to create an essence of the brand.

Question 3

What are the challenges to globalisation?

Answer 3

MEDIA FRAGMENTATION
- Not all markets use the same media channels

CONSUMER SKEPTICISM

DIFFERENCES IN CODES OF CONDUCT AND REGULATION

CULTURAL TENSION eg McDonalds in France

ETHICAL AND CULTURAL DISPARITY

LANGUAGE BARRIERS

Question 4

What are the 3 strategic responses for businesses when going global?

Answer 4

GLOBALISATION/STANDARDISATION

LOCALISATION/ADAPTATION

GLOCALISATION

Question 5

What is the globalisation/standardisation approach?

Answer 5

Standardise products and market them worldwide with standardised tactic.

• COUNTRY OF ORIGIN AFFECT
  eg: IKEA exporting Swedish design
  eg: BMW exporting German engineering

OR
Using the same piece of communications in many cultures
eg: HSBC

Question 6

What are the benefits of a standardisation approach?

Answer 6

Cheap

Control brand identity

Question 7

What are the drawbacks of a standardisation approach?

Answer 7

May be rejected

May offend

Question 8

What is a localised approach to communications?

Answer 8

Opposite of standardisation. Adjusting to the environmental conditions. People in different regions have different standards so you need to adapt your communications.

eg: L’Oreal advertising

Question 9

What are the benefits of a localisation communications approach?

Answer 9

Experienced ad agencies know what will sell

Reduced chance to offed

May make penetration appear more natural

Question 10

What are the drawbacks of a localisation communication approach?

Answer 10

Can lose brand message

Outsourcing is costly

Question 11

What is a glocalisation approach?

Answer 11

Blending standardisaation and adaptation of communication approaches to ensure global strategies are adopted locally.

Co-existence of global homogeneity and local hetereogeneity.

Question 12

What did LEVITT (1983) hypothesise?

Answer 12

Businesses are confronted with a homogenous global village ~ deliver standardised, high quality products and brands using standardised advertising, pricing and distribution - higher quality at low prices.

Are consumers converging under a Western umbrella?

Question 13

What is convergence?

Answer 13

The concept that consumers are becoming more alike in their needs and wants.

Question 14

What is divergence?

Answer 14

The concept that consumers are becoming less alike in their needs and wants.

Question 15

Name an example to illustrate the convergence and divergence debate.

Answer 15

Students converge in what they wear, activities they pursue and where they study.

Students are different because they do not have the same consumption habits.

eg: McDonalds in Thailand used a rap to convey the standard message.

Question 16

What products have high cultural sensitivity?

Answer 16

DIVERGENCE

Food, fashion.

Question 17

What products have low cultural sensitivity?

Answer 17

CONVERGENCE

Cars, technology.

Question 18

What is culture?

Answer 18

“Collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one category of people from those in another”
HOFSTEDE

• Culture is learnt, individuals are products of culture: ideas, values and emotions.

Question 19

What are Hofstede’s 6 Cultural dimensions?

Answer 19

POWER DISTANCE INDEX

INDIVIDUALISM VS COLLECTIVISM

MASCULINITY VS FEMININITY

UNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCE INDEX

LONG TERM VS SHORT TERM NORMATIVE ORIENTATION

INDULGENCE VS RESTRAINT

Question 20

What is individualism vs collectivism?

Answer 20

INDIVIDUALISM
Preference for a loosely knit social framework

COLLECTIVISM
Tight knit framework

Question 21

What is the power distance index?

Answer 21

Distance of hierarchy

Question 22

What is masculinity vs femininity?

Answer 22

MASCULINITY
Preference for achievement, heroism, assertiveness and material rewards for success.

FEMININITY
Preference for cooperation, modesty, caring for the weak, quality of life.

Question 23

What is the uncertainty avoidance index?

Answer 23

HIGH UNCERTAINTY:
Maintains rigid codes of belief and behaviour.

LOW UNCERTAINTY:
Societies open in which practise counts more than principle.

Question 24

What is long term vs short term normative orientation?

Answer 24

HIGH NORMATIVE ORIENTATION
Encourage thrift and efforts in modern education to prepare for the future

LOW NORMATIVE ORIENTATION
Preference to maintain time honoured traditions, view societal change as suspicious

Question 25

What is indulgence vs restraint?

Answer 25

INDULGENCE:
Free gratification of basic human drives related to enjoying life and having fun.

RESTRAINT:
Societies that suppress gratification of needs and regulates it by means of strict social norms

Question 26

Name examples of marketing adaptation examples

Answer 26

IKEA removing Mum from bathroom for Arab audience
H&M cover shoulders in adverts to avoid cultural backlash
LEGO build your child’s mind for Asia, ‘what will your child make of it’ for UK

Question 27

What defines how effective cultural communications are?

Answer 27

The context in which values can be evoked by the campaign to match the cultural values of the target audience in another culture.

eg: Diet Coke in Japan as Coke Lite (figure maintenance)
KitKat in Japan, similar to Kitto Katsu meaning you will surely win, KitKat’s become a good will token.

Question 28

What are the 3 elements of advertising style?

Answer 28

APPEAL - factual/emotion

BASIC FORM - lifestyle/slice of life/testimonial

EXECUTION - actors/dress/language

When these elements are congruent to values, likeability increases (POLEGATO AND BJERKE)

Question 29

What are the 3 issues of international marketing communication?

Answer 29

1) INTEGRATION
2) MESSAGE FIDELITY (how yoou code values to achieve fidelity)
3) MEDIA AVAILABILITY AND REACH

Question 30

Describe in relation to Hofstede’s values how communications look to target the target market for a particular company.

Answer 30

GLENFIDDICH
Targeting aspirers, looking to make it in the world.

UK -> Individualistic advert, plays to masculinity and social reward.

FRANCE -> High indulgence and individualistic

TAIWAN -> Highly collectivist, more feminine, short term normative orientation, collectivism, low indulgence.

Question 31

How do people decode communications?

Answer 31

Through cultural models
Encoding and decoding circles must overlap so the meaning of communications resonates
eg: Gerber baby food in Africa
eg: Cue toothpaste in France, same name as a pornography magazine

Question 32

What are the issues with web design across cultures?

Answer 32

Culturally adapted sites generate greater efficiency and favourable attitudes.

Issues:

• Metaphors
• Images
• Language
• Localising sites
• Privacy
• Domain names
• Navigation