CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN INTERNATIONAL MARKETING

Senior lecturer Carmen PETCU

University of Craiova, C.U.D.T.S.
Drobeta Turnu-Severin
Romania

Marketing behavior, regarding buyers’ options and preferences in confronting the

market, is influenced by the social-cultural context to which it belongs. Hence, the general
and professional training, the social medium of origin, the micro-climate of the group culture
etc., they all contribute to the way in which the buyer of goods and services evaluates the
qualitative standard of the offer at existing prices, the types of needs (primary or elevated)
aiming to be satisfied, and the degree of utility and satisfaction guarantee; thus, the object of
this analysis is a consumerist behavior of quantitative type, or an educated consumerist
behavior, of qualitative type. The interrelations of consumer behavior and cultural values and
the background of reference are set by the scope of International Marketing, which is
nevertheless met with challenges - ethnocentrism versus global awareness and global
institutions, protectionism versus the logic of easing trade restrictions, legal constraints and
linguistic limitations versus global advertising, national brands versus global brands and
trends.
In assessing global markets and in putting forward global perspectives in emerging
markets, cultural diversity must be associated with cultural dynamics (cultural sensitivity and
tolerance), while planning cultural change (cultural imitation, borrowing and innovation) must
be linked to linguistic distance, avoiding the illusion of similarity, so as to prevent resistance
to change.

Contact address: cpetcu31@yahoo.com