1. a) Explain the concept of culture and its main elements.
Answer
Culture
Much has been written on the subject of culture and its consequences. Whilst on the surface most countries of the world demonstrate cultural similarities, there are many differences, hidden below the surface. One can talk about "the West", but Italians and English, both belonging to the so called "West", are very different in outlook when one looks below the surface. The task of the global marketer is to find the similarities and differences in culture and account for these in designing and developing marketing plans. Failure to do so can be disasterous.
Terpstran9 (1987) has defined culture as follows:
"The integrated sum total of learned behavioral traits that are manifest and shared by members of society"
Culture, therefore, according to this definition, is not transmitted genealogically. It is not, also innate, but learned. Facets of culture are interrelated and it is shared by members of a group who define the boundaries. Often different cultures exist side by side within countries, especially in Africa. It is not uncommon to have a European culture, alongside an indigenous culture, say, for example, Shona, in Zimbabwe. Culture also reveals itself in many ways and in preferences for colours, styles, religion, family ties and so on. The colour red is very popular in the west, but not popular in Islamic countries, where sober colours like black are preferred.
Much argument in the study of culture has revolved around the "standardisation" versus "adaption" question. In the search for standardisation certain "universals" can be identified. Murdock7 (1954) suggested a list, including age grading, religious rituals and athletic sport. Levitt5 (1982) suggested that traditional differences in task and doing business were breaking down and this meant that standardisation rather than adaption is becoming increasingly prevalent.
The elements of culture
The major elements of culture are material culture, language, aesthetics, education, religion, attitudes and values and social organisation.
Material culture
Material culture refers to tools, artifacts and technology. Before marketing in a foreign culture it is important to assess the material culture like transportation, power, communications and so on. Input-output tables may be useful in assessing this. All aspects of marketing are affected by material culture like sources of power for products, media availability and distribution. For example, refrigerated transport does not exist in many African countries. Material culture introductions into a country may bring about cultural changes which may or may not be desirable.
Language
Language reflects the nature and values of society. There may be many sub-cultural languages like dialects which may have to be accounted for. Some countries have two or three languages. In Zimbabwe there are three languages - English, Shona and Ndebele with numerous dialects. In Nigeria, some linguistic groups have engaged in hostile activities. Language can cause communication problems - especially in the use of media or written material. It is best to learn the language or engage someone who understands it well.
Aesthetics
Aesthetics refer to the ideas in a culture concerning beauty and good taste as expressed in the arts -music, art, drama and dancing and the particular appreciation of colour and form. African music is different in form to Western music. Aesthetic differences affect design, colours, packaging, brand names and media messages. For example, unless explained, the brand name FAVCO would mean nothing to Western importers, in Zimbabwe most people would instantly recognise FAVCO as the brand of horticultural produce.
Education
Education refers to the transmission of skills, ideas and attitudes as well as training in particular disciplines. Education can transmit cultural ideas or be used for change, for example the local university can build up an economy's performance.
The UN agency UNESCO gathers data on education information. For example it shows in Ethiopia only 12% of the viable age group enrol at secondary school, but the figure is 97% in the USA.
Education levels, or lack of it, affect marketers in a number of ways:
· advertising programmes and labelling
· girls and women excluded from formal education (literacy rates)
· conducting market research
· complex products with instructions
· relations with distributors and,
· support sources - finance, advancing agencies etc.
Religion
Religion provides the best insight into a society's behaviour and helps answer the question why people behave rather than how they behave.
A survey in the early 1980s revealed the following religious groupings (see table 3.1)3.
Table 3.1 Religious groupings
Groups | Million |
Animism | 300 |
Buddhism | 280 |
Christianity | 1500 |
Hinduism | 600 |
Islam | 800 |
Shinto | 120 |
Religion can affect marketing in a number of ways:
· religious holidays - Ramadan cannot get access to consumers as shops are closed.
· consumption patterns - fish for Catholics on Friday
· economic role of women - Islam
· caste systems - difficulty in getting to different costs for segmentation/niche marketing
· joint and extended families - Hinduism and organizational structures;
· institution of the church - Iran and its effect on advertising, "Western" images
· market segments - Maylasia - Malay, Chinese and Indian cultures making market segmentation
· ensitivity is needed to be alert to religious differences.
Attitudes and values
Values often have a religious foundation, and attitudes relate to economic activities. It is essential to ascertain attitudes towards marketing activities which lead to wealth or material gain, for example, in Buddhist society these may not be relevant.
Also "change" may not be needed, or even wanted, and it may be better to relate products to traditional values rather than just new ones. Many African societies are risk averse, therefore, entrepreneurialism may not always be relevant. Attitudes are always precursors of human behaviour and so it is essential that research is done carefully on these.
Social organisation
Refers to the way people relate to each other, for example, extended families, units, kinship. In some countries kinship may be a tribe and so segmentation may have to be based on this. Other forms of groups may be religious or political, age, caste and so on. All these groups may affect the marketer in his planning.
There are other aspects of culture, but the above covers the main ingredients. In one form or another these have to be taken account of when marketing internationally.
1. a) Explain the concept of culture and its main elements.~ Vivek Economics & Account 's
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