Chapter 4 Cultural Dynamics in Assessing Global Markets

Teaching Objectives
Culture in this text is defined in an anthropological sense in that culture refers to the entire social heritage
of a group of people. Thus, culture includes a countrys economy, society, behavior, etc. It is imperative
for international marketers to learn to appreciate the intricacies of cultures different from their own. A
vast majority of the mistakes make by international businesses can be attributed to a lack of
understanding some aspect of the culture of a country. The teaching objectives of this chapter are to:

1) Set the tone for the entire course, which is the importance of culture to an international marketer.
2) Create a strong sensitivity in students to the cultural differences that exist among countries and
the effect of cultural elements on the total fabric of doing business in another country.
3) Re-emphasize the idea of the Self-Reference Criterion (SRC) and its influence on doing business
in another culture. The insidious nature of the SRC that is, you are often unaware of how your
SRC is affecting your reaction to an event, your evaluation of a market opportunity or the
evaluation of a situation or event, etc. is especially important to stress in this chapter and
throughout the course. Many marketing mistakes and misfires can be explained by someones
SRC interfering with a proper interpretation of a marketing action. Because cultures are different,
often what is obvious and important in your home culture is not so obvious and important in
another or vice versa.
4) Explore the strategy of planned change. By understanding how cultures change, companies can
overcome resistance to change and accelerate rates of acceptance. This idea is more fully
developed in Chapter 12 but the concept can be introduced here.
5) Stress that in many cultures, an international marketer is a change agent in that their activities
cause cultural change. Sometimes the consequences of change can be very beneficial but in other
cases, change can be harmful the marketer has the responsibility to guard against causing
harmful change.

Comments and Suggestions

1. There are several ways to achieve the teaching objectives of this chapter. If you like case there are
several that will serve as a basis for illustrating the important points of the chapter. By asking students
to identify the cultural aspects of Case 21 The Not So Wonderful World of EuroDisney (in a broader
scope, this case can also be used in conjunction with Chapter 11) various cultural differences between
Disney in the U.S. and EuroDisney can be explored.
2. I often begin a lecture on culture by reading the quote in the section on Cultural Borrowing.
(. . . begins breakfast with an orange from the eastern Mediterranean . . .) and using it to help
illustrate several aspects of cultures, for example, that cultures borrow, that they change, but that they
also resist change and that once they accept a new way it is their own regardless of how they
acquired the new way. This idea is important to stress since it will be important later in the course
when the students are exposed to the idea of products being innovations to which there may be
cultural resistance to acceptance.
3. I think it is important to discuss briefly the various elements of culture to set the stage for the next
several chapters which explore some of the elements in depth. Using transparency, Elements of
Culture, as a visual guide, I briefly comment on each, giving appropriate examples.

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Case 1-2, Nestle The Infant Formula Incident, is a good case to discuss since many will have heard of
the case and it can be used to illustrate several aspects of culture discussed in the chapter. It also serves as
a good example of a marketer causing harmful cultural change. A key question to explore is how Nestle
could have avoided the problems in the case and still marketed their product.

Lecture Outline
I. Global Perspective: Equities and eBayCulture Gets in the Way
II. Cultures Pervasive Impact
III. Definitions and Origins of Culture
A. Geography
B. History
C. The Political Economy
D. Technology
E. Social Institutions
IV. Elements of Culture
A. Cultural Values
B. Rituals
C. Symbols
D. Beliefs
E. Thought Processes
V. Cultural Knowledge
A. Factual versus Interpretive Knowledge
B. Cultural Sensitivity and Tolerance
VI. Cultural Change
A. Cultural Borrowing
B. Similarities: An Illusion
C. Resistance to Change
D. Planned and Unplanned Cultural Change
E. Consequences of Innovation
VII. Summary

Discussion Questions
1. Define:
Cultural sensitivity Factual knowledge
Culture Interpretive knowledge
Ethnocentrism Cultural values
Strategy of cultural congruence Cultural borrowing
Linguistic distance Material culture
Strategy of unplanned change Aesthetics
Social institutions Strategy of planned change

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2. Which role does the marketer play as a change agent?
Whether or not the marketer is aware of it, he assumes the role of a change agent when he introduces
into another culture new ideas or new products requiring some form of change in behavior for
acceptance and use of the new idea or product. The international marketer must concern himself with
the impact of his actions upon the new culture.

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3. Discuss the three cultural change strategies a foreign marketer can pursue.
There are three strategies. (a) Culturally congruent strategy, (b) Strategy of unplanned change, (c)
Strategy of planned change. The culturally congruent strategy involves marketing products similar to
ones already on the market in a manner as congruent as possible with existing cultural norms, thereby
minimizing resistance. A strategy of planned change means deliberately setting out to change those
aspects of a culture most likely to offer resistance to predetermined marketing goals. The strategy of
unplanned change consists of introducing an innovation and then waiting for an eventful cultural
change that will permit the culture to accept the innovation. The essence of unplanned change lies in
the fact that the marketer does nothing to accelerate or help to bring about the necessary change
where the marketer deliberately sets about to overcome resistance and to cause change that will
accelerate the rate of adoption of his product or innovation.
4. Culture is pervasive in all marketing activities. Discuss.
Marketers are constantly in the process of adjusting their efforts to the demands of the culture of their
markets. Although in the long run they may affect their markets culture as a result of their efforts,
most current activity involves reconciling marketing activity to the immediate culture.
5. What is the importance of cultural empathy to the foreign marketer? How does he or she
acquire cultural empathy?
The importance of cultural empathy to the foreign marketer is that being culturally sensitive allows
him or her to objectively see, evaluate, and appreciate another culture. A marketer can obtain cultural
empathy by studying the culture and living with it. The latter is not always possible, and it may be
expedient to hire natives who speak your tongue and their own. This procedure will often give you
the intuition which is necessary for success.
6. Why should a foreign marketer be concerned with the study of culture?
A foreign marketer should study culture in order to avoid making blunders which would not be made
if he or she had cultural knowledge. Culture should be studied because it affects the consumers
desire and ability to buy.
7. What is the popular definition of culture? What is the viewpoint of cultural anthropologists?
What is the importance of the difference?
The popular definition of culture is that a person is either cultured or uncultured according to his
or her ability in certain specialized fields of knowledge. The cultural anthropologist defines culture as
all the knowledge, beliefs, and skills he or she acquires as a member of society. The importance to
the marketer of the differences between these two definitions is the fact that the anthropologists
definition includes all parts of life, and all of these parts affect a consumers desire and ability to pay
for a product.
8. It is stated that members of a society borrow from other cultures to solve problems that they
face in common. What does this mean? What is the significance to marketing?
Cultural borrowing entails using the best solutions to a problem that different cultures face. This best
solution, borrowed by one culture from another, is incorporated into the borrowing cultures system,
and becomes part of their cultural heritage. This fact is significant to the marketer because although
the solutions to the problems are similar they are put together in a unique manner which is strictly
American, Chinese, French, etc. In realizing the similar but different aspect of culture, the marketer
is aided in gaining cultural empathy.

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9. For the inexperienced marketer, the similar but different feature of culture creates an
illusion of similarity which usually does not always exist. Discuss and give examples.
Although some cultures seem similar, they most likely are not. For example, two different countries
speaking the same language may use words or phrases which are acceptable to one, but totally
unacceptable to the other. Some cultures may have subcultures in which the similar but different
principle applies.
10. Outline the elements of culture as seen by an anthropologist. How can a marketer use this
cultural scheme?
a. Material Culture
1. Technology
2. Economics
b. Social Institutions
1. Social organizations
2. Education
3. Political structures
c. Man and the Universe
1. Belief systems
d. Aesthetics
1. Graphic and plastic arts
2. Folklore
3. Music, drama, and the dance
e. Language
The foreign marketer may use the above outline of cultural elements (1) to provide a meaningful
framework to use in evaluating a marketing plan or in studying the potential of a foreign market,
(2) to point out those things which must be learned about the culture of the people since most of
these elements are reacted to automatically in a cultural system, (3) as factors with which the
market interacts and which are basic in the understanding of the character of the marketing
system of any society.
11. What is material culture? What are its implications for marketing? Give examples.
Material culture consists of technology and economics. Technology is the techniques used to make
material goods; it is the know-how possessed by the people of a society. Economics is the manner
in which people employ their capabilities and the resulting benefits. Economics includes the
production of goods and services, their distribution, consumption, means of exchange, and the income
derived from the creation of utilities. The marketer must remember that material culture affects the
level of demand, the quality and type of products demanded, their functional features, and the means
of production and distribution of these goods. Examples of material culture would be the availability
and cost of gasoline in regulating demand for and size of automobiles. The availability of electricity
can regulate demand for any electrical product.

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12. Social institutions affect marketing in a variety of ways. Discuss, give examples.
Social institutions affect marketing because they regulate the consumers behavior and attitudes by
organizing his activities and teaching him acceptable behavior. Examples of social institutions
affecting marketing are the literacy rate as a function of education, the strength of the family unit, and
political acceptance or hindrance of marketing activities.
13. Markets are the result of the triune interaction of a marketers efforts, economic conditions,
and all other elements of the culture. Comment.
This statement emphasizes the point that markets evolve out of the interrelationship of three major
factors. They are a marketers efforts, economic conditions and all the other elements of the culture.
Marketers are constantly in the process of adjusting their efforts to cultural demands of the market,
but they are also agents of change whenever the product or idea being marketed is innovative.
Whatever the degree of acceptance and whatever level of culture, the use of something new is the
beginning of cultural change and the marketer becomes a change agent. This statement is important
because it emphasizes the fact that the marketer is not a passive influence in a culture and that, while
the marketer attempts to react to cultural demands, in so doing the marketer also influences cultural
change.
14. What are some particularly troublesome problems caused by language in foreign marketing?
Discuss.
Language poses some difficult problems in foreign marketing not merely because of the obvious
differences in tongues, but because the idiomatic interpretations mean something different than what
the marketer had intended. Examples of this are Body by Fisher which translates to Corpse by
Fisher and Let Hertz Put You in the Drivers Seat which translates to Let Hertz Make You a
Chauffeur.
15. Suppose you were requested to prepare a cultural analysis for a potential market, what would
you do? Outline the steps and comment briefly on each.
The best procedure for making a cultural analysis for a potential market is to go through each of the
elements of culture and evaluate each on the basis of how it could possibly affect a proposed
marketing program.
a. Material Culture
1. Technology the techniques and know-how of producing material goods.
2. Economics the employment of capabilities and the results.
b. Social Institutions
1. Social organizations family life, status, age.
2. Education literacy and intelligence and how informed the public is.
3. Political structures control over business.
c. Man and the Universe
1. Belief systems how do these affect product and promotional acceptance?
d. Aesthetics
1. Graphic and plastic arts degree of modernization.
2. Folklore superstition, tradition, etc.
3. Music, drama, and the dance promotional possibilities.

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16. Cultures are dynamic. How do they change? Are there cases where change is not resisted but
actually preferred? Explain. What is the relevance to marketing?
Cultures change gradually with resistance to changes. The resistance varies inversely with the interest
a society has in the change. Culture doesnt resist change if the product is a status-valued imported
item, a fashion item, or is given the advantage of inferior feelings about local products. Marketers can
expect resistance to their products, with greater resistance to those products with the greatest
deviation from the cultural norm or status quo.
17. How can resistance to cultural change influence product introduction. Are there any similarities
in domestic marketing? Explain, giving examples.
Resistance to cultural change will affect new product introduction in the respect that the greatest
resistance will confront products which are farthest from the status quo, but this resistance can be
lowered by gaining public interest. Lowering resistance in this situation means shortening the
duration of the resistance. Domestic marketing is subject to the same resistance to change. Examples
of this resistance in the domestic market are the introduction of contact lenses and using motorcycles
as an acceptable means of recreation.
18. Innovations are described as being either functional or dysfunctional. Explain and give
examples of each.
The consequences of diffusion of an innovation may be functional or dysfunctional depending on
whether the effects of the social system are desirable. A dysfunctional innovation is one where the
effects within the social system are undesirable. In most instances, the marketers concern is with
perceived functional consequences, i.e., the positive benefits of product use. For many products, such
as the cake mix described in the chapter, there would be no dysfunctional consequences. However, it
cannot always be assumed that an innovative products consequences will be functional. An example
mentioned in the text was the introduction of condensed milk to the diet of babies in underdeveloped
countries where protein deficiency is a health problem. On the surface it would appear that the
consequences of the addition of condensed milk to the diet would result in better nutrition and health,
stronger and faster growth, etc. However, evidence tends to indicate that in at least one situation there
were dysfunctional consequences of the innovation. Instead of health benefits, a substantial increase
in dysentery, diarrhea, and a high infant mortality rate resulted.
19. Defend the proposition that a MNC has no responsibility for the consequences of an innovation
beyond the direct effects of the innovations such as the products safety, performance, and so
forth.
It would be difficult to defend this proposition since the dysfunctional consequences of an innovation
may not only have negative consequences on the social system but may ultimately impact on the
success of the multinational concern. While most multinational companies have not concerned
themselves with the consequences of an innovation beyond product safety, it appears that in the future
there will be greater concern on the part of host countries in holding companies responsible for the
consequences of their marketing activities. It would seem that from an enlightened self-interest
viewpoint, companies should attempt to determine the consequences of their innovations, and should
they prove to be dysfunctional, include in their marketing strategies attempts to eliminate the negative
aspects of the acceptance of diffusion of their product.
20. Find a product whose introduction into a foreign culture may cause dysfunctional consequences and
describe how the consequences might be eliminated and the product still profitably introduced.
Library project.

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