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Lesson#15
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Causes of cultural differences and change
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INTERNATIONAL CULTURAL AND SOCIAL ENVIRONMENTS
Affect of Cultures on Business Practices
Causes of cultural differences and change:
Cultural value systems are set early in life and are difficult
to change. By the age of ten most children
have their basic value system in place, such as;
• evil vs good
• dirty vs clean
• ugly vs
beautiful
• unnatural vs
natural
• abnormal vs
normal
• paradoxical vs
logical
• irrational vs
rational
Culture is transmitted by various patterns:
– from parent to
child
– from teacher
to pupil
– from social
leader to follower
– from one age
peer to another
Change in culture may come through
– choice or
imposition
– contact with
other cultures
Isolation tends to stabilize a culture and contact tends to
create cultural borrowing
Language and religion also affect cultural stability
Behavioral practices affecting businesses:
In any culture a variety of behavioral practices affect the way
businesses are conducted. Some of the
common behavioral practices affecting businesses are given
below;
• group
affiliations
• role of
competence
• attitudes towards
gender, age & family
• importance of
occupation
• communications
– language,
context
– silent
language
• attitudes towards
work
• other behavioral
differences
• degree of
self-reliance
• preference for
autocratic vs consultative management
• attitudes towards
self-determination vs fatalism
Some management styles:
Scholars like Herzberg have researched cultures of countries
around the world and have categorized
countries according to business practices;
• Theory “X” -
workers are generally irresponsible, unwilling to work and must be persuaded to
perform their obligations
• Theory “Y” -
given an appropriate work environment and in absence of exceptional
disincentives,
workers are dedicated to their tasks, are generally self
motivated
• Decision making
• USA -
authoritarian
• Western Europe
- limited co-determination
• Japan - with
consensus
• Latin America
– paternalistic
• Corporate
emphasis
• North America
- short-term profit
• Western Europe
- employee & corporate interests
• Japan - close
cooperation between govt. & business
• Latin America
- highly govt. regulated
Hofstede’s dimensions of national culture:
• Power distance -
extent to which power in
organizations is unequally distributed
– high power
distance - centralized tall,
pyramid organizations, people at lower strata with lower
qualifications (Philippines, Mexico, South Korea, India)
– Low power
distance - less centralized,
flatter organizations, people at lower strata with higher
qualifications (Austria)
• Uncertainty
avoidance - extent to which society feels threatened by uncertain or ambiguous
situations
– high uncertainty
avoidance - structured
organizational activities, more written rules, less risk
taking by managers, lower labor turnover, less ambitious
employees (Germany, Japan & Spain)
– low uncertainty
avoidance (Denmark & Great
Britain)
• Individualism -
Collectivism
– individualism -
tendency of people to look after
themselves and their immediate family (normally
high in wealthy countries)
– collectivism -
people belong to groups or
collectives and look after each other in exchange for
loyalty (normally high in poor countries)
• Masculinity -
Femininity
– masculinity -
dominant values of society are
success, money, advancement (large-scale
enterprises and economic growth considered important, situations
of higher job stress and
employees kept under higher degree of control - Japan)
– femininity -
dominant values of society are
caring for others and quality of life (greater
importance on cooperation, friendlier atmosphere, employment
security, low job stress and
employees allowed considerable freedom - small scale enterprises
and emphasis on conservation
of environment - more women hold higher level jobs - Norway)
Page
48
Culture is a human medium:
• there is not one
aspect of human life that is not touched and altered by culture
• this means
personality
• how people
express themselves (including
shows & emotions)
• the way they
think
• how they walk
• how problems are
solved
• how their cities
are planned & laid-out
• how
transportation systems function & are organized
• how economics &
government systems work & are put together
Cultural influences on consumer behavior:
• Hierarchy of
needs, which distorts demand across product categories.
• Culture based
values, especially on individualistic or collective orientations, which
influence
purchase behavior and decision process
(individual vs family)
• Institutions
which influence consumer behavior
• Influences
through cultural variations in personal factors of consumer behavior, brand
loyalty,
consumer involvement, perceived risk, cognitive style.
Level of context needed:
HIGH CONTEXT
• JAPANESE
• CHINESE
• GREEK
• ARABS
• SPANISH
• ITALIAN
• ENGLISH
• NORTH AMERICAN
• FRENCH
• SCANDINAVIAN
• GERMAN
LOW CONTEXT
Impact of national cultures on marketing:
• Material culture
& marketing
– types of
products suitable for individual markets
– types of media
available
– distribution
systems / storage facilities
• Imperialism
– alien products
are agents of change in host culture
• Language as a
culture mirror
– most obvious
difference between cultures
– English has
large vocabulary of commercial & industrial words
– Eskimo has
many words to describe snow
• Cultural events &
marketing opportunities
– Eid,
Christmas, Chinese New Year etc.
• Cultural
sensitivities to products , colors etc.
Reconciliation of cultural differences by international
marketer:
• Cultural
awareness
– managers must be
aware of what cultural differences are and how these differences would
influence basic functions of management
– managers must
decide carefully whether and to what extent they should adopt home-country
practices to foreign environment
– international
managers need to identify the roles that individuals play in process of cultural
change and in acceptance of change
– cultural elements
which may resist change should be identified and understood before planning
any organizational change
– products,
services and advertising should also fit needs and perceptions of host culture
• grouping
countries together
• fitting needs
to company position
– not all companies
need to have same degree of cultural awareness
– the more a change
upsets important cultural values, the more resistance it will face
– cost of change
may exceed the benefits gained
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