Article by: Ramona Stanca

International Marketing Communication - Cultural influence

One of the oldest definitions of culture is the one of Tylor, who defines culture as "Culture is that whole complex which includes knowledge, beliefs, art, morals, laws, customs and any other capabilities and habits acquired by the individuals of one society ".  (Tylor, 1871, p. 1).

Researcher Geert Hofstede defined culture as "the collective mind which distinguishes the members of a human group from another "(Hofstede, 1991, p.5). Culture, in this sense, includes the systems of values; and the values ​​are among essential components of a culture (Adler, 1997, p 15).

Therefore, the culture is a collective phenomenon that is shaped by the social environment of the individuals and not by the individuals themselves. Essentially, culture is the whole legacy of a society, transmitted by word speech, literature or other forms of communication, but also the way of life and thought of that society that are passed on from generation to generation. Culture reflects the human side of economic environment.

Culture has a strong impact on marketing activity. Marketing involves gaining profit by meeting needs, human desires and requirements. In order to better meet them, the target-market culture must be understood.

Cultural influence on product decisions

There is a wide range of decisions regarding the product, the product itself, branding, packaging, labelling, warranties and after-sales service, positioning. Regarding the product itself, the important characteristics that are influenced by the culture are the dimensions of the product, shape of the product, the content itself of the product, the quality, methods of use of the product, the product color. Product dimensions as size, capacity or volume are subject to market and environmental influences, and often require separate solutions for each market. One of the important factors is the choice of the system metric or nemetric. The company must go beyond the simple conversion from one system to another. And also other environment factors influence the size of the product. Japanese hands are smaller; Americans feet are bigger, so gloves and shoe manufacturers have to take into account this fact. Also, houses in some countries are less spacious and manufacturers of houses items should take this into account. Even in the countries where the customers’ preferences seem to be similar, there are significant differences regarding the size and capacity of the products. The European Union consumers have special preferences on washing machines. Italians prefer washing machines with a capacity of 4 kg, English a capacity of 5 kg and Germans and Swedes prefer washing machines with a capacity of 6 kg.

The product shape is an important element in the decision to produce. In this respect, the symbolism is a key-factor in the decision to produce (Dubois, 1987). The symbolic representations have theirs expression in tradition and habits. If the symbolic attribute of a product is negatively charged, it will be amended. The Middle East, the round or square representations are accepted. The six-pointed star or the raised forefinger are avoided.

The content of the product itself is also influenced by the culture, in particular the consumer goods. The Muslims do not eat pork and do not drink alcohol. Therefore, in the Islamic countries the animal fat should be replaced by the vegetal fat due to the religious restrictions. The Brahman Hindus do not eat meat at all. For example, the Australian company, Uncle Ben's, a producer of food for pets had to eliminate pork even from the food for the animals, as the consumption of Pork is forbidden by the Islam religion. If there are a large number of illiterates or women are excluded from education, the products should be simplified.

A product may have varied uses on other markets, and the methods of preparation may be different. For example, the American company Dunkin's Donuts, didn’t success at the beginning in Brazil, because usually the locals do not serve breakfast. So they had to adapt to the local market, making products from local fruits for dessert or parties.

Neither the company Campbell wasn’t successful in Brazil with his beef and vegetable soups, as the Brazilian housewives prefer dry soups like Knorr and they add local ingredients.

An important role has the colors of the product. They can be used to distinguish the mark - the company Herz, for example, uses yellow and Avis green. Rolls Royce uses shiny silver to create the image of a luxury car. Pepsi-Cola had many problems when they changed the color of their machines from dark blue in blue sky in the countries from South-East Asia, as this color symbolizes there mourning and death.

The brand is influenced by the following elements of culture: language , aesthetics and cultural values. The brand name may be influenced primarily by the language if it is not translated correctly and its meaning has a negative connotation . For example, the expression "no va " in Spanish means "no go " and can be confused with the Italian word " nova " which means "new". As a result, the company General Motors was not successful in the Spanish-speaking countries with its Nova model . Also, the word " Fresca " (name of U.S. soft drink Fresca ) is a Spanish slang for lesbians; and the cars brand Pinto from Ford had to be changed into Corcel in Brazil , after it was discovered that in this country " pinto " is a slang for the male sexual organ. Sometimes the same word has a completely different meaning in other countries (false friends). For example, the word "diet" in French suggests a poor health. So, in France, Coca –Cola doesn’t use " Diet Coca -Cola ", but" Coca- Cola Light ".

In the countries with high patriotism, the local brands must be used in order to access the market. For example, in 1996, the Vietnamese government has imposed that the name of all the brands to be local. (Kotabe, Helsen, 1998, p 336).

The decisions regarding packaging focus essentially on the shape and on the package structure, its size, color, material culture. The Americans prefer to buy mayonnaise and mustard in jars, while in Germany and Switzerland are preferred the tubes. Also, in the United States usually the beer is packaged in cans, while in Europe is packed in bottles. The size of the package varies depending on the purchase model and the market conditions. In low-income countries, the goods are usually sold by piece and not in packages with more products.

The labeling involves the use of the appropriate language. If the label contains important information for the consumer, usually it must be written in their own language, which implies the existence of labels for each market. Moreover, the symbols on the labels and packages have their explanation in the traditions and customs. In India, for example, elephants, parrots, tigers are used as trade marks on labels and packages. In countries where the percentage of illiterates is high, the labels should be adapted accordingly.

The influence of culture on promotion decisions

The element of the promotional mix the most influenced by the culture is the advertising.

The following aspects of advertising are influenced by culture : media , contents, advertising budget and  the relationship advertising agency-client. Perhaps the most dominant feature of the global advertising is the proliferation of advertising media. Media advertising can be influenced by the material culture which limits the available supports. In developed countries you can find the full range of media: television, radio, newspapers, cinema and billboards.  In the countries which are developing, some of these media - television, newspapers - are missing, especially in rural areas. Even in the countries where these media exist, there are restrictions which limit their availability for advertisement. These restrictions range from a total ban on television advertising (Sweden) to limit it to 15 to 20 minutes a day in lumps of 3 to 5 minutes. Some countries don’t have enough magazines and newspapers to insert all advertisements required and others didn’t introduce yet the satellite television or cable. Even when there is media, it may not be available for advertising. For example, in Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland and Saudi Arabia you cannot make radio advertising. In Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Saudi Arabia neither the commercial television is not available for advertising ( Jeannet , Hennessey , 1998, p 476). Advertising content is influenced by material culture, language, religion, education, customs and traditions and norms.

Conclusions

Because the decisions regarding the marketing mix and the policies standardization/adaptation are essential in the international marketing, further research is needed on the impact of cultural variables. Before this, the cultural structures relevant in marketing still need to be identified. This has been achieved so far by using the four cultural dimensions of Hofstede for estimating the cultural differences. However, the dimensions of Hofstede may not correspond to the objectives of international marketing. The samples of Hofstede were selected by sex and age (Usunier, 2000, p 74), not by socioeconomic class, geosocial regions, ethnic backgrounds, etc.. Therefore, further research are necessary regarding the identification of specific models (or commons) of consumption.

References

Adler, N.A. (1997). International Dimensions of Organizational Bahaviour, SW College

Publishing, Cincinnati

Dubois, B. (1987). Culture et marketing, în Recherche et Applications en Marketing, vol. 11-1, pp. 47-64

Hofstede, G. (1991). Cultures and organizations: Software of the mind, McGraw-Hill, London

Kotabe, M., Helsen, K. (1998). Global Marketing Management, John Wiley and Sons, New York

Jeannet, P.R.; Hennessey, H.D. (1998). International Marketing Management, Houghton, Miffin

Company, Boston

Tylor, E.B. (1871). Primitive Culture, John Murray, London

Usunier, J.C. (2000). Marketing Across Culture, Prentice Hall, London