Question no.

01

What is culture? What are the core values of American Culture?

Culture:- Culture
is defined as the shared patterns of behaviors and interactions, cognitive constructs, and affective understanding that are learned through a process of socialization. According to Damen, L. - "Culture: learned and shared human patterns or models for living; day- to-day living patterns. these patterns and models pervade all aspects of human social interaction. Culture is mankind's primary adaptive mechanism" According to Robert Bierstedt- Culture is the complex whole that consists of all the ways we think and do and everything we have as members of a society According to Pearson, T.- "Culture...consists in those patterns relative to behavior and the products of human action which may be inherited, that is, passed on from generation to generation independently of the biological genes" According to Kluckhohn, C., & Kelly, W.H. - "By culture we mean all those historically created designs for living, explicit and implicit, rational, irrational, and non rational, which exist at any given time as potential guides for the behavior of men."

The word culture has many different meanings. For some it refers to an appreciation of good literature, music, art, and food. For a biologist, it is likely to be a colony of bacteria or other microorganisms growing in a nutrient medium in a laboratory Petri dish. However, for anthropologists and other behavioral scientists, culture is the full range of learned human behavior patterns. The term was first used in this way by the pioneer English Anthropologist Edward B. Taylor in his book, Primitive Culture, published in 1871. Taylor 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." Of course, it is not limited to

men. Women possess and create it as well. Since Taylors time, the concept of culture has become the central focus of anthropology.
Main Characteristics of culture are given below : Culture is learnt. Culture is shared. Culture is Tran missive.

Culture is Dynamic and adaptive. Culture is super organic.

The Core values of American Culture:A typical marketing analysis of culture content begins by identifying the core values of the social group. Core values are the abstract end goals that people strive to achieve in their lives The core Value of American Culture:i. ii. iii. iv. v. vi. vii. viii. ix. x. Individualism. Freedom. Health and Fitness. Progress. Achievement and successful Activity. Efficiency and practically. Material comfort. External confirming. Humanitarianism. Youthfulness.

i.

Individualism:-

American Values being themselves Self-reliance, self interest, self-confidence, self-esteem and self-fulfillment are all exceedingly popular expressions of individualism. Striving for individualism seems to be rejection of dependency; that is, it is better to rely on oneself than on others. American rugged Individualism is a form of individualism. It is based on the notion of self-reliance with competition. In terms of consumer behavior, an appeal to individualism frequently

takes the form of reinforcing the consumers of identity with products or services that both reflect and emphasize that identity. For example, advertisements for high-style clothing and cosmetics usually promise that their products will enhance the consumers exclusive or distinctive character and set him or her apart from others.

ii.

Freedom:-

Freedom is another very strong American value, with historical roots in such democratic ideals as freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of worship. As an out through of these beliefs in freedom, Americans have a strong preference for freedom of choice, the opportunity to choose from a wide range of alternatives. This preference is reflective in the large number of competitive brands and product variations that can be found on the shelves of the modern supermarket or department store. There are decision-making situations when consumers are faced with too many choices. In such cases they may feel overwhelmed by the shear number of choices and respond by running away from the stressful situation. Research with English consumers found that many of the respondents reported feeling bewildered and irritated by the fact that they were being offered too much choice.

iii.

Health and Fitness:-

Fitness and health have increasingly become life style choices for many consumers. Therefore it is not surprising to find and almost constant stream of new products and services design to assist health-focused consumers to achieve a healthier life style. This trend has stimulated Reebok to open series of exercise retail complexes that seek to build a cultural connection with consumers that goes beyond the normal marketing approach. Traditional food manufacturers have began modifying their ingredients to cater to the health conscious consumers. Frozen dinners have become more nutritious in recent years and manufacturers of traditional

junk food are trying to make it more helpful. Light or fat free versions of snack chips along with low sodium, no cholesterol, preservative, snack products are and attempt to provide consumers with testy and healthy options. There are web sites for the fitness minded consumers offering work out tips, nutritional information and fitness related products and services. iv.

Progress:-

Progress is another watchword of American society. American respond favorably to the promise of progress. Receptivity to progress affairs to be closely link to the other core values already examined and to the central belief that people can always improve themselves, that tomorrow should be better than today. in a consumption oriented society, such as that United State, progress often means be acceptance of change, new products, or services designed to fulfill previously under satisfied or unsatisfied needs. A new type of counselor, the life coach or personal coach works with individuals in order to help them improve themselves and seek, fulfillment and balance in carriers, family, health and hobbies.

iv.

Achievement and successful Activity:-

Individuals who consider a chance of accomplishment an important personal value tend to be achievers who strive hart for success. Although historically associated with men, specially men business executives, today a achievement is very important for women, who are increasingly enrolled in undergraduate and graduate business programs and are more commonly seeking top level business carriers. A recent study has examined the interplay between the internet and personal values found that those individual scoring high in sense of accomplishment were more likely to use the internet for learning or gathering information, making reservation or researching travel. Success is a closely related American cultural thing however achievement and success and do differ. Achievement is its

own direct reward, success implies and extrinsic reward. Moreover it is the widespread embracing of achievement and success that lead to the greater success and progress of United States. When it comes to personal development and preparation for future carriers, the themes for achievements and success are also specially appropriate. v.

Efficiency and practically:-

With a basic philosophy of down to earth pragmatism, American pride themselves own being efficient and practical. When its come to efficiency, they admire anything that saves time and effort. In terms of practicality they generally are receptive to any new product that makes tasks easier and can help solve problems. For example- today it is possible for manufacturers of many product categories to offer the public a wide range interchangeable components. Thus a consumer can design his or her own customized all unit from such standard components as comprisable matters and woods, lakes, door, facings and style panels at a cost not much higher than a completely standardized unit. vii.

Material Comfort:-

For most Americans materials comfort signifies the attainment of the good life, a life that may include a new car, a dish washer and air conditioner a, a hot tub and infinite variety of other convenience providing goods and services. It papers that consumers idea of material comfort is largely a relative view that is consumer tend to define their own satisfaction with the amount of materials they have in terms of a comparison of what they have to what others have. On the other hand as many popular songs point out the ownership of materials goods does not always lead to happiness. Affluent people might be willing to trade money for more free time to spend with family and friends. American today increasingly want better and better looking products such a step of affairs has been referred to a the design economy that is an economy that best on the

interaction of four elements. Michele Graves has held target accomplished its goal of being a stand out provider of finally designed at mass market pries.

viii.

External conformity:-

Although American deeply embrace freedom of choice and individualism, they never accept the reality of conformity. External conformity is a necessary process by which the individual attack to society and interesting example of the ping pong relationship between seeking individualism and excepting conformity is the wide spread acceptance of more casual dressing in the workplace. Some male executives are wearing casual slacks and sport shirts to work, others are wearing blazers rather than business suits. Moreover more than 50% of workers of surveyed feel that it increases their productivity to wear casual clothing to work. ix.

Humanitarianism:-

Americans are often generous when it comes to giving to those in need. They support with a passion many human and charitable process, and sympathize with the under dog who must overcome adversity to get ahead. They also tend to be charitable and willing to come to the aid of people who are less fortunate than they are. Beyond charitable giving, other social issues have an impact on both what consumers buy and where they invest. For example some investors prefers mutual funds that scream companies for such social concerns as military contracts, pollution problems and equal opportunity employment. x.

Youthfulness:-

American tend to place and almost value on youthfulness. These emphasize is reflection of American rapid technological development. In an atmosphere where new is constantly stressed, old is often equated with being outdated. This is in

contrast to traditional European, Africa, and Asian societies in which the elderly are revered for having the wisdom of experience that comes with age. A great deal of advertising is directed to creating a sense of urgency about retaining of youth of fearing aging. These advertising themes which promise the consumer benefits.

Question no 02.

Why a marketing manager should study culture?

The study of culture is the study of all aspect of a society. It is the language, knowledge laws and customs that give the society its distinctive character and personality. Culture provides knowledge which is essential for the physical, social, and intellectual existence if man. Language is the main vehicle by which culture can be transmitted. For this reason a marketer should study a lot on the culture of his targeted customers. Without this it is quite impossible to gain profit in his business. Culture defines social situations. It not only defines but also determines- what we eat, what we wear, when to laugh, weep, sleep, love, what work we do, what knowledge we relay upon etc are result of studying any culture perfectly. So, by analyzing culture a marketer will be able to know the present condition of the society to which he is going to introduce his desired products and services. Culture defines attitude values and goals. Cultures provide behavior pattern. Cultures directs and confines the behavior of an individual. Cultures assigns goal and provides means what achieving them. Culture varies from society to society. Culture of every society is unique to itself. Cultural elements such ascustoms, traditions, morals, ideals, values, believes, institutions are studied by a marketer well. Without this knowledge a marketing manager will not be able to trace out the mentality,

need, want, demand of his customers who are the main target of any business. Actually, culture is the learned ways of behavior. Culture is body of thought and knowledge, both theoretical and practical, which only man can process. All the elements in the marketing mix serve to communicate symbolically with the audience. Products project and image of their own, so does promotion, price and the retail outlets symbolically convey images concerning the quality of the product. It is the main duty of a marketing manager to produce quality products which can fulfill the demand of his consumers that are then result of the culture of that consumer. A wide range of measurement technique is used too study culture. Actually the marketing manager can use projective techniques, attitudes measurements methods, field observation, participant observation, content analysis, and value measurement survey techniques. All of these techniques are quite helpful for the cultural pattern of behavior that can be shown in specific people of any society. In the circumstances stated above it can easily conclude that a marketing a manager must have wide range of knowledge and hypothetical thinking power to analyze the behavioral pattern of any customer, any society, any group, any organization, any country and all over the world. So, cultural knowledge is must or any marketing managers of the world to run his business smoothly.