International Marketing

Cultural dynamics in assessing global markets

1. Define: Cultural sensitivity, Culture, Cultural values, Cultural congruence, Cultural

borrowing, Linguistic distance, Aesthetics, Social institutions, planned change.
 a. Cultural sensitivity: is an awareness of the nuances of culture so that a culture
can be viewed objectively, evaluated, and appreciated. It is an important part of
foreign marketing.
b. Culture: it is the human-made part of human environment. The sum total of
knowledge, beliefs, arts, morals, laws, customs and any other capabilities and habits
acquired, shared and transmitted by humans as members of society.
c. Cultural values: it is the system of beliefs and customs held by a population in a
given culture.
d. Cultural congruence: it is a marketing strategy in which products are marketed in
a way similar to the marketing of products already in the market in a manner as
congruent as possible with existing cultural norms.
e. Cultural borrowing: is the phenomenon by which societies learn from other
culture’s ways and borrow ideas to solve problems or improve conditions.
f. Linguistic distance: is the measure of difference between languages. An important
factor in determining the amount of trade between nations.
g. Aesthetics: philosophically, aesthetics is the creation and appreciation of beauty
such as arts, including folklore, music, drama and dance.
h. social institutions: is the methods and systems, including family religion, school,
the media, government and corporations that affect the ways in which people relate
to one another, teach acceptable behavior to succeeding generations and govern
themselves.
i. Planned change: it is a marketing strategy in which a company deliberately sets
out to change those aspects of a foreign culture resistant to predetermined
marketing goals.

2. Which role does the marketer play as a change agent?

 The marketer plays as a change agent when he introduces 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 with the
impact of his actions upon the new culture.

3. 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 one to objectively see, evaluate and appreciate another
culture. They can acquire cultural empathy through studying culture and living
with it.

4. 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
anthropologist’s definition includes all parts of life, and all of these parts affect a
consumer’s desire and ability to pay for a product.