Drilon, Ma. Concepcion L.

BAMM 201

SELF- ASSESSMENT

1. Discuss four examples of how elements of a country’s culture can affect a global marketer’s
promotion strategy.

Global marketing and cultures of countries around the world are undoubtedly affecting
each other. It is because cultures can determine the demand and sales of a certain product in a
specific country. In the case of global marketing, cultures would be affected if a specific country
decided to import their goods for them to increase their economic rate, whereas they also have
to study the cultures of the other country. The relevance of the two concepts will be further
explained through examples existing in various countries.

Values are learned through experiences. It can also influence consumer perceptions and
purchasing behaviour. For example, consumers in some countries, such as the United States,
tend to be individualistic and make many purchasing decisions based on their own personal
preferences. In other countries, such as China, India etc. the well-being of the group is more
highly valued, and buying decisions are more influenced by the well-being of the group, such as
the family. Based on these differences in values, it is not surprising that commercials featuring
individuals tend to do better in countries where individualism is an important value, and
commercials featuring groups do better in countries where the group’s well-being is a higher
value.

Religious set of beliefs and practices can have strong influence on what consumers buy
(or don’t buy), when they shop, and how they conduct business.  It is important for marketers to
understand the influence of religion on consumer culture in the markets where they operate, so
that their marketing activities can be appropriate. To be precise, all the major world religions
observe holidays. These festival seasons tend to be prime shopping seasons as well, such as
the Christmas season in Western cultures, or Ramadan in Muslim cultures. Religious beliefs
lead to sensitiveness about certain products: in the Hindu religion, cows are considered sacred
and people refrain from eating beef. Jews and Muslims consider pork unclean, and they
consume only kosher or halal meats, respectively. Many religions eschew alcohol: for example,
devout Sikhs, Muslims, Mormons, Buddhists etc. all refrain from drinking.
 Language is more complex when a country has more than one official language. To
illustrate, in India and China, more than two hundred different dialects are spoken. India has
more than twenty officially recognized languages. Mainland China’s official spoken language is
Chinese. Meanwhile in Hong Kong and Macau, Cantonese Chinese, English, and Portuguese
are the official languages. Hence, language can become a very complicated issue for
marketers.

The composition of family groups, the prevalence of special-interest groups and

attitudes toward them, racial diversity and recreational lifestyles are all important to consider
when a country is being investigated as a potential export market. According to some
researches during 2004, the South Korean government started shortening the workweek from
six days to five. In 2007, all companies with 50 or more employees had to provide two days of
free time a week. As of 2011, all companies in South Korea comply with the five-day workweek.
This major shift in lifestyle has led to a boom in hotels, tourism and the consumption of Western-
style leisure-time products. It has even changed eating habits; between 2005 and 2007, two
hundred restaurants opened in the capital city of Seoul to provide Western-style brunch foods
including blueberry pancakes, bagels, steaks, and bacon and eggs.
These are some elements of culture that affected global marketer’s promotion
strategies in some ways that could be experienced in countries around the world.

2. What is culture and why is it important in global marketing? Use examples to show your
understanding of culture’s complexities.

Beliefs and influences are some of the concepts that cover culture. In fact, culture refers
to the influence of religious, family, educational and social systems on people. It describes how
people live their lives and the how it affects the choices that they make. Marketing exists in an
environment that is being shaped by culture. Suppliers tend to market products in different
countries while considering their sensitiveness to cultural factors. Various features of culture can
create an illusion of similarity, but marketers must dig deeper to make sure they truly
understand the people and environment in which they work. Some of the examples that could
emphasize culture complexities in marketing are in Japan, number four is considered unlucky
which is why products that have four items are avoided by many consumers. In Middle East,
images displaying the uncovered arms or legs of female body are offensive which is why
revealing clothes are not allowed in their market. Lastly, in Egypt, women wear headscarf in
public which increases its demand as it is being used in work and educational settings.
3. What are some possible issues in applying the Power-Distance classification in Hofstede’s
classification scheme in a global marketing context? Use your own examples to discuss.

Since decisions of those with strong hierarchies or higher ranks are much preferred than
discussion and teamwork in power-distance classification, appealing to consumers with different
cultures would be harder. Researches about marketing strategies that would benefit various
cultures are required in order for a product to be demanded worldwide. However, without
discussion or teamwork, ideas about formulating marketing strategies will only be limited to the
capabilities of the strong hierarchies and the conduct of research needs a cooperative work
among employers and employees. Managers will micromanage organisational activities in which
even minor decisions require the resolution of the upper heads. For instance, some companies
in India are dependent on the decisions of the powerful members. There might be cases in
which they would fail to overlook the products that will be a trend in the Philippines because
their knowledge and resources will only be limited to the decisions of the powerful members.
There are less heads that are working together in strategizing their market which could affect
their sales and overall performance.

4. The self-reference criterion has important implications for international marketing. Explain
reference criterion and discuss its implications for each element of the marketing mix.

In local markets on the basis of self-reference criterion; the marketer can predict the
future responses of customers to a particular product but in the markets of some other country
or culture the responses of customers will be based on their unique cultural environment. Even
when the marketing strategy for international market is developed very carefully, chances of
misunderstandings cannot be entirely vanished due to many un-avoidable factors. The
intervention of self-reference criterion in international marketing practices can be easily
understood with the help of this example. In an advertisement created by Nestle’ corporation for
their Kit Kat, a voice cover of local language was used for both countries UK and Italy. In that
advertisement the quack, universal language of ducks, and duck callers were used by duck
hunter to attract the ducks. Meanwhile in the commercial they became frustrated and to have a
cheerful break they need a Kit Kat. That advertisement could not be succeeded because of the
cultural differences between the consumer’s culture and marketer’s culture