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INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS SCHOOL

Direccin Acadmica

INTERNATIONAL MARKETING
Fifth Session:
The International Marketing Environment (cultural, social and
environmental aspects)
LEARNING GOALS
CAPACITY
Deciding which markets to
enter: The international
marketing environment:
(cultural, social and
environmental aspects)
INDICATOR:
Apply adequate and timely information
of international environment to decide
which foreign markets to enter
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Example
The Turkish Client
You are in the middle of negotiations with a potential
Turkish client in Istanbul, over lunch, at the Sheraton Hotel.
You go to the self-service buffet and pile on your plate some
tasty pork chops from a serving dish clearly marked "pork."
You ask the waiter to bring a bottle of wine and offer some
to your potential Turkish client; he declines. Your products
are known for their quality in Turkey and elsewhere in the
world, and your client seems receptive to your price quote.
After lunch, the potential client invites you to his home for
coffee; you decline and state that you need to stay at the
hotel to get some work done and bid him good-bye.
You come back to your home country and find that you
cannot reach your Turkish client. His secretary always
claims he is not in, and he does not return your calls.
What went wrong?

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Culture
Culture is defined as a continuously
changing totality of learned and shared
meanings, rituals, norms, and traditions
among the members of an organization
or society.

Elements of Culture
Language
Religion
Cultural Values
Cultural Norms
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Language
Verbal
How words are spoken.
Gestures made.
Body position assumed.
Degree of eye contact.
Local language capabilitys
important role in international marketing
Aids in information gathering and evaluation.
Provides access to local society.
Important to company communications.
Allows for interpretation of contexts.
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Language (contd.)
Non-verbal communication
Proxemics (Physical Haptics
space) Kinesics (Gestures)
Postures
Paralinguistics
Orientations (manners, (Intonation, accents,
conventions) qualitiy of voice)
Oculesics (eye contact)
Appearances
Chronemics (Timing of
verbal exchange) Olfactions
Example: The "okay" sign commonly used in the United States and the
United Kingdom (thumb and index finger forming a circle and the other
fingers raised) means zero in France, is a symbol for money in Japan,
and carries a vulgar connotation in Brazil 6
Religion
Societys relationship to the supernatural determines
dominant values and attitudes.
Examples:
Christianity (2 billion followers)stresses hard work and frugality.
Judaismstresses education and development.
Islam (1.2 billion followers)focus on rules for social interaction.
Bans the use of interest rates. No pork or alcohol
Hinduism (860 million followers)encourages family orientation
and dictates strict dietary constraints. Strictly hierarchical. No Beef.
Buddhism (360 million followers)stresses sufferance and
avoidance of worldly desires.

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Religion and Its Impact
on Business
Business Days
Gender Roles
Gift Giving
Marketing Practices

Monday Tuesday Wednes- Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday


day
Christian Business Business Business Business Business Business
Morning
Islam Business Business Business Business Business Business
Judaism Business Business Business Business Business Business

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Learning New Cultures
Enculturation
Process by which individuals learn the beliefs and
behaviors endorsed by ones own culture
Acculturation
Learning a new culture.
Assimilation
Full adoption and maintenance of the new culture, and
resistance to ones old culture.

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Cultural Norms
Norms are derived from Imperatives
values and defined as rules Business cards: Asia:
that dictate what is right or presentation and
receiving with both
wrong, acceptable or hands. It has to stay
unacceptable. on the table, dont
write on the card,
Imperative.- what an outsider dont put it in the back
pants pocket
must or must not do.
In Saudi Arabic woman
are not allowed to
drive or walk in public
without a man.

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National/Regional Character

Time Orientation
Business Hours
Gift Giving
Socializing
Gender Roles
Status Concern and
Materialism

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Cultural Variability
Term used to differentiate between cultures
on the Geert Hofstede Dimensions, which
are:
Power Distance
The manner in which interpersonal relationships
are formed when there are perceived differences
in power.

Germany Latin
U.S. Eastern America
Europe China

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Low High
Cultural Variability (contd.)
Terms used to differentiate between
cultures (contd.)
Individualism/Collectivism
The extent to which individuals prefer to act in the
interest of the group rather than in their own self-
interest.

Thailand
Latin America Australia United
GB States
China

Low High
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Individualism Individualism
Cultural Variability (contd.)
Hofstede adds later a next point
Long term Orientation/ short
term
Time horizon of planning in a
society
Values long term Orientation:
frugality, insistency
Values short term Orientation:
flexibility, egoism
www.culturegrams.com reports on more than 200
countries, each U.S. state, and all 13 Canadian
provinces and territories 14
Context Cultures
High-context culture
is where the social context in which
what is said strongly affects the
meaning of the message.
Examples: Japan and Saudi Arabia
Low-context culture
is where the meaning of the message is
explicitly expressed by the words and is
less affected by the social context.
Example: North America

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Cultural Change and Marketing
Marketers need to integrate culture when designing a
marketing strategy by going through the following
process:

Researching symbolic elements and cultural


meanings in consumers lives

Identifying cultural meanings of the product

Designing the product accordingly

Designing the marketing campaign using


symbolic cultural elements
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Obstacles to Cultural
Understanding
Ethnocentrism
The belief that ones own culture is superior to another
and that strategies that are used in the home country will
work just as well internationally.
The Self-Reference Criterion:
The unconscious reference to ones own national culture,
to home-country norms and values, and to their
knowledge and experience in the process of making
decisions in the home country.

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The Global Consumer
Culture
Shared consumption-related symbols and activities that are meaningful to market segments
A global consumer culture is attributed to the diffusion of products from the United States to
the rest of the world.
Entertainment (MTV, movies, CDs)
Hamburgers and pizza
Jeans and running shoes, Coca Cola, etc.

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Positioning Based on Culture
Global consumer culture positioning
Positioning the product to appeal to individuals who want
to be part of a global consumer culture.
Local consumer culture positioning
Positioning the product so that it is associated with local
cultural meanings.
Foreign consumer culture positioning
Positioning the product as symbolic of a desired foreign
culture.

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Making Culture Work for Marketing Success

Embrace local culture.


Build relationships.
Employ locals to gain cultural knowledge.
Help employees understand you.
Adapt products and processes to local
markets.
Coordinate by region.

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To Give or Not To Give

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Examples
McDonald's Restaurants
a) Some countries are including beer in the McDonald's menu; designs for
mats and the color and design of the uniforms of the employees tend to vary
in each country, local menus are offered without losing the essential image
standardization, such as the Big Mac, golden arches, fast service, hygiene,
etc.
b) In Peru, it had to include Inca Kola in the menu, because it is a quasi-
national soft drink for the population, with more than 60 percent national
market share in the late nineties. Coca-Cola, the soft drink supplier to
McDonald's, managed to acquire by early 2000 the stocks of Inca Kola and it
is handling it as one of their brands.

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Social Responsibility

Social
Social responsibility
responsibility means
means thatthat
organizations
organizations are
are aa part
part of
of aa larger
larger society
society
and
and are
are accountable
accountable toto that
that society
society for
for
their
their actions.
actions.

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Environmental aspects
More
More Government
Government
Intervention
Intervention

Factors
Affecting
Higher
Higher Pollution
Pollution the Shortages
Shortages of
of
Levels
Levels Natural Raw
Raw Material
Material
Environment

Increased
Increased Costs
Costs
of
of Energy
Energy
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