Summary – marketing across cultures – 6th edition
Chapter 1 – The cultural process
Individual behaviour is influenced, but not determined, by culture, as it is only one of the
many layers that influence behaviour.
1.1 defining culture
Unwritten cultural rules lead us to feel that our own cultural norms are naturally right and
that other different cultural norms are unnatural or strange. The inclusion of subcultures
highlights the fact that multiple normative solutions to social problems are available in all
cultures, but solutions are differentially preferred (Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck)
Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck argue that humans share biological traits and characteristics that
lead to a preference for certain solutions to universal problems in society, which are
reflected in our cultural values.
Their assumtions:
1. there is a limited number of common human problems for which all peoples must at
all times must find some solutions
2. while there is a variability in solutions of all the problems, it is neither limitless nor
random but is definitely variable within a range of possible solutions
3. All alternatives of all soluitions are present in all societies at all times, but are
differentially preferred. Every society has, in addition to its dominant profile of value
orientations, numerous variant or substitute profiles.
Culture links the individual to the society. Individuals are not simply programmed by their
culture, as they are free to adopt or adapt the commonly accepted norms of their culture to
suit their needs.
- Social representation = forms of operational knowledge, which help us to categorize
and interpret circumstances, phenomena, individuals and theories and enable us to
make daily decisions.
They are constantly updated through our behaviour and social activities, or as a result of the
media, public opinion polls, news summaries, court decisions and legal penalties. Social
representations are held by individuals, but vary across societies. They alter within short
time span and are important for the urgent need for collective and individual adaption to
reality.
Many people operate in more than one culture or subculture. There is some proof that says
that the pervasiveness of environmental cues seems to elicit a subconscious switch in
operational culture. Things can prime or make one culture more salient, for example
landmarks, famous people or culturally common symbols.
1.2 elements of culture
The majour elements of culture:
1. Language
, o Primary mechanism for sharing and transmitting information between
members of a particular society.
o Claimed that it shapes and structures our world view and social behaviour.
o Influences how we select issues, solve problems and act.
2. Institutions
o Organize individuals into the group.
o Include family, political institutions, social organizations.
o There are many different ways in which an institution can organize people:
culturally preferred solutions.
o Seen universal prinicples around which institutions are formed across
cultures:
Reproduction = integrates people around blood relationships and
marriage as an established contractual framework
Territoriality = integrates people around common interests dictated by
neighbourhood and vicinity
Physiology = integrates people around their sex, age, and physical
traits or defects. This includes the sexual division of labour, sex roles,
the relationships patterns between age groups, and the way minority
members of the community are treated.
Spontaneous tendency to join together = integrates people around
common goals. This includes various kinds of associations, such as
clubs, artistic societies.
Occupational and professional activities = integrates people around
labour divisions and expertise. For example educational institutions,
court, trade unions, or the army.
Hierarchy = integrates people around rank and status.
Totality = integrates diverse elements into a reasonably coherent
whole.
o Individuals belong to more than one level of institution.
3. Material productions
o Artistic productions such as music and art
o Intellectual productions, such as articles and books
o Physical productions, such as factories, tools, food and clothing
o Service productions, such as banks, communication, media and education
4. Symbolic productions
a. Determine the relationship between the physical and the meaphsyical
1.3 Culture and nationality
- A country’s culture can only be defined by reference to other countries
- Many nation-states are explicitly multicultural.
- Political decisions, have imposed the formation of new-nation states. The borders of
these new states are often set with little regard for cultural realities.
Sources of culture
Operational culture perspective: main source is seldom.
,Cultural homogeneity
- Different types of homogeneity: linguistic, religious, ethnic, climatic, geographical,
institutional and political, and social/income type of homogeneity
Definitions
- The existence of a uniform modality thourghout the whole population or at the very
least limited diversity
- An accepted diversity that is officially recognized and supported by the state.
- A strong perceived homogeneity, which is built upon acceptable differences within
the national community.
The concept of national culture
- Relies on the concept of within-country homogeneity and between-country
differences.
- It is primarily a starting point for uncovering cultural differences between countries.
- In reality, culture has many levels or layers, which more often respond to
organizational entities than to nation-states.
National character and educational practices
- Key elements of personality develop during childhood
- Due to
o Reward/sanction systems
o Degree and modes of socialization into various parts of the communities
o Demands and prohibitions
, o Feeding and nourishing
o Weaning
o Personal hygiene and toilet training
o School systems
1.4 Culture, competence and stereotypes\
There is no test that is universally relevant, in that it encompasses all the possible facets of
human intelligence, or offers total objectivity in the experimental and empirical methods
used to evaluate them. Definitions of intelligence are culturally contingent.
Skills and our environment
- The environment in which we live influences our perceptions, beliefs, attitutes and
behaviour.
- Physical environment also influences our culture. Such as climate. Some countries
climate climates tend to harden people, with the result that they become more
inclined towards activities of war, commerce or industry, and more efficient in
pursuing these activities.
Stereotypes
- Stereotypes serve as simplified intellectual representations of other people.
- They also tend to promote our differences.
1.5 Ethnocentrism and self-reference criteria
Culture shock and self-shock
- Self-shock extends the concept of culture-shock, which is considered to be a reaction
to difference, to a reaction to differences with and within the self.
- A set of intensive and evocative situations in which the individual perceives and
experiences other people in a distinctly new manner, and as a consequence,
experiences new facets and dimensions of existence.
- Facing foreigners may disturb our personal identity or self-image through the mirror
effect self-image is constructed from our perceptions of others’ voiced opinions
and behavioural responses to us. in an intercultural setting, maintaining our
personal identity can be problematic as it is: unconscious, requires sound
intercultural understanding, and requires good communication skills self-shock
- Self-shock arises from: ego (personal identity), personal behaviour, and the other.
- Self-shock results from a deep imbalance between the need to confirm personal
identity and the ability to do so.
- Often results in a self-defence mechanisms.
Ethnocentrism and self-reference criterion
- Ethnocentrism = a tendency for people to perceive their own group as the centre and
to scale and rate out groups with reference to their own group.
Racism
- Imply prior prejudices as to who is inferior or superior according to race or culture.
,Cultural hostility
- There is a strong affective dimension, when a person’s cultural values are
threatened. This emotional response may arise from:
o Simple interactions with people whose cultural values are quite different. This
may lead to feelings of unease, difficulty in communication and lack of
empathy. A defensive response may develop in terms of minor and
unconscious cultural hostility.
o Collective reactions to groups that are culturally different.
- Not only territorial conflicts but also economic competition that may cause cultural
hostility, especially when combined with cultural differences.
Chapter 2 – Cultural dynamics 1: time and space
Two basic elements of cultural dynamics at the individual level:
1. culture is learned
2. Culture is forgotten, in the sense that we cease to be conscious of its existence as a
learned behaviour
Culture represents our adaptation to reality, based on complex interactions between values,
attitudes and behavioural assumptions. Cultural differences arise from preferences for
solutions to common human problems, which form cultural norms in society.
Cultural norms serve as constraints and opportunities rather than dictating how individuals
act. Cultural frameworks and theories provide a valuable starting point to understand the
impact of culture as a cohesive whole.
2.1 A model of action based on cultural assumptions
,- Time, concept of the self and others, and space influence interaction models, which shape
our attitudes towards action and our own actions. These cultural assumptions are
statements about the nature of reality, in response to a set of fundamental human
problems.
- These assumptions give communities a framework for evaluating solutions to these
fundamental problems, combining a:
- Cognitive dimension (what people think)
- Affective dimension (what people like)
- Directive dimension (what people do)
2.2 Time: cross-cultural variability
Time assumptions influence many marketing concepts, such as the product life cycle, sales
forecasting and the planning of new product launches. It seems linear, continuous and
economic. However, there are many different time orientations.
Dimensions of time orientations
Time related problems
1. Economicity of time
a. The extent to which time is regarded as a scarce and tangible resource
i. Time is money allocate money in most optimal manner
ii. Time is plentiful and indefinitely available
2. How to schedule tasks?
a. Monochromic (M-time) or one-task
i. Only one task is undertaken at a time, following a pre-set schedule
b. Polychronic (P-time) or multi-tasking
i. Multiple tasks undertaken simultaneously and appointment times, if
any, are flexible. Time is less important than the situational context.
Easily modify schedules.
ii. More committed to relationships than schedules
3. Is time a continuous line?
a. Linearity
i. Time is seen as linear, separate blocks which have a certain value
ii. Strong economic view of time in combination with monochronism
b. Cyclicity
i. Time is cyclical, with daily, yearly and seasonal cycles
ii. Degree of emphasis put on the natural rhythms of years and seasons
the sun and the moon.
iii. This contrast sharp in modern and traditional societies. Traditional
societies have this more.
iv. Three main origins
1. Religious assumptions about reincarnation
2. Natural rhythms of years, seams and days
3. The social division of time periods, which is more arbitrary, less natural and given,
than we assume
4. Past, present and future
a. Emphasize towards past
, i. The past is important. Resources must be spent on teaching history
and building museums. Oral and written traditions are important.
Roots are implanted in the past and no plant can survive without its
roots.
b. Emphasize towards present
i. Live in the here and now. Although not always enjoyable, the present
must be accepted for what it is: the only true reality
c. Emphasize towards future
i. Plan for the future. Prepare for the long term: appreciate
achievements. The future is inevitably bigger and better.
Three dimensions integrating the M-and P-time with the economicity of time:
1. Time use preference (P/M)
a. The extent to which people prefer to engage in multiple tasks simultaneously
2. Context (low/high)
a. The extent of context needed to effectively communicate.
i. M-time associated with low context communication, conveying only
explicit meaning in messages.
ii. P-time is associated with high context communication, where the
information that surrounds an event, as well as many indirectly
meaningful cues, are needed to correctly interpret the message.
3. Time tangibility (economicity)
a. The extent to which time is viewed as a commodity that can be bought, sold,
saved, spent or wasted.
2.3 Space territoriality
- Territoriality = an organizing principle that can be used to form groups, based on
family ties or common characteristics including education, religion and professional
associations. Territoriality also extends to our physical environment, including
responsibility toward the natural environment.
Space-related cultural differences
Basic problem/ cultural orientations Contrast across cultures
Are people insiders or outsiders, based on what people do or on what they are?
- Personalization What you can do, depends on who you
are. Based on predetermined
characteristics. (age, birth)
- Depersonalization What you do is more important than
who you are. Does not occur naturally.
What are the rights and obligations of group membership? (focuses on rights and
responsibilities toward members of our group)
- Ingroup orientation Belonging to ingroups includes
important rights and obligations that are
unlikely to be accored to outgroup
members. Different definitions of the
, content of an ingroup. It decreases
obligation to outgroup members.
- Outgroup orientation Assumes all people have equal rights,
even distant others. Rules are universal.
Objectivity over loyalty.
Impact on cross cultural consumer
behaviour, in terms of product ownership
and usage and international business, in
terms of the information needed to
understand the connections between
people and how contracts are made and
honoured.
How can membership be gained?
- Concrete territoriality ingroup being orientation based on who
the person is’ unlikely to be acquired by
outgroup adults (e.g. birth)
When being and ingroup is strong
- Abstract territoriality outgroup doing orientation based on
what the person does (e.g. skills)
When doing and outgroup is strong
How to deal with physical space?
- Group cultures with close physical tendency to live near to one another,
contact and to be undisturbed by such intimacy.
Economy of sharing goods
- Individualistic cultures prefer private the need for private space around one’s
space body, and to dislike intrusion into this space
What are the sizes of the intimate, personal
and social zone. Who is allowed to enter
them? What is considered adeaquate
sensory exchange within definite
interpersonal distances?
2.4 concept of self and others
How should we assess strangers? Treat them for the first time? Trust or distrust strangers?
- Human nature basically good
o Unknown people are considered favourably
friendly and open-minded
- Human nature basically bad
o Unknown people are treated with suspicion
trust should only be given to people who are thrustworthy
