CHAPTER 3

THE CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT

Chapter Outline

A. Culture Defined
B. The Elements of Culture
1. Language
2. Nonverbal Language
3. Religion
4. Values and Attitudes
5. Manners and Customs
6. Material Elements
7. Aesthetics
8. Education
9. Social Institutions
10. Sources of Cultural Knowledge
C. Cultural Analysis
D. The Training Challenge
E. Making Culture Work for Marketing Success

Chapter Objectives

This chapter focuses on cultural impacts on international business. As the international

dimension becomes more important to every type of business, the need for cultural
sensitivity becomes more acute. Although no chapter, nor any written material for that
matter, can do proper justice to the topic of culture, the chapter outlines two topics: (1) the
concept of culture and its various elements and (2) the possible ways in which international
managers can deal with the cultural environment. The chapter emphasizes the need to go
beyond the factual information, beyond discussing the elements of culture elaborated upon in
the chapter with the understanding that "one really does not learn culture, one lives it." The
rationale for discussing the factual dimension of culture is to make the student aware of the
multidimensionality of culture and top sensitize the student to the individual elements of
culture as well as their interaction.

A very understandable tendency is to treat culture as a "soft" topic and only in anecdotal
fashion. The discussion on culture has to be far more than a rehashing of previous years'
business blunders. Anecdotes do serve a role but only as examples of the frameworks
presented.

Suggestions for Teaching

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 The instructor can do various things in simulating the "living culture." Depending on the
situation a combination of the following three approaches can be used on a(n)
industry/market/function-specific basis. First, if the class has members from different
cultures, some of the end-of-chapter questions can be discussed from the perspective of
different student reactions. Comparisons can be made on the positioning of the same product
across cultures; e.g., how are sleeping pills marketed or how women are portrayed in
advertising.

The cultural discussion lends itself to visitors who can provide their experience on "doing
business in country X." Possible speakers include representatives of foreign governments
(e.g., commercial and industrial attaches), officers of foreign-based multinational
corporations, retired managers who may have spent 20-30 years as country managers for
some of the largest U.S. corporations, officials of the U.S. Government (e.g., the Department
of Commerce has numerous regional offices throughout the U.S.), as well as consultants who
specialize on improving intercultural effectiveness (e.g., Coleman Raider International, Inc.,
which offers a full consulting service to corporations and organizations that are about to
engage in negotiations across national borders). The session lends itself well to videotaped
material which is available from various sources.

Students benefit most out of group projects which have (1) pertinent topics and (2) well-
chosen diverse members. These two aspects ensure interest and learning from peers as the
project progresses. Student bodies today portray both cultural background differences as
well as exposure to other cultures through foreign travel or study abroad. Topics that may be
considered are: (1) The various dimensions of culture and how they affect marketing. For
example, students may be asked to choose an industry for which they are requested to
analyze cultural impact on (a) purchase patterns, (b) usage patterns, (c) attitudes towards the
industry, and (d) attitudes towards its products or services. This can be conducted either
generally, by region, or by specific country; (2) Students may be asked to identify persons
who have extensive business experience in or with a particular region or country. Their
interview comments can be summarized and comparisons made across regions and
industries. It is interesting to utilize reports that have been published and use group projects
to update and/or check the materials; and (3) With more internationally experienced classes,
group projects can be used in preparation for negotiation simulations and role playing.

Key Terms

Culture: An integrated system of learned behavior patterns that are distinguishing

characteristics of members of any given society.
Acculturation: Adjusting and adapting to a specific culture other than one’s own.
High Context Cultures: Cultures in which the context is at least as important as what is
actually said, for example, Japan and Saudi Arabia have cultures in which what is not said
can carry more meaning than what is said.
Low Context Cultures: Cultures in which most information is contained explicitly in
words; for example, North American cultures.
Change Agent: Introduction of new products or ideas or practices, which
may lead to changes in consumption.
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Cultural Imperialism: A charge indicted on international marketers if their marketing approach
does make culture specific adaptations.
Cultural Universals: These are manifestations of the total way of life of any group of people,
including elements such as body adornments, courtship, etiquette, family gestures, joking,
mealtimes, music, personal names status differentiation and trade.
Back-Translation: The translation of foreign language version back to the original language
by a person different from the own who made the first translation; an approach used to detect
and avoid omissions and language blunders.
Focus Groups: Eight to twelve consumers representing the proposed target market
audience, whose responses are used to check for disasters and fine-tune research findings.
In-Depth Studies: A comprehensive study of a subject matter.
Infrastructures: The basic economic, social, financial, and marketing support systems, from
housing to banking systems to communications networks; it is also an indicator of potential
demand.
Cultural Convergence: The growing similarity of attitudes and behaviors across cultures.
Social Stratification: The division of a particular population into classes.
Reference Groups: A person or group of people that significantly influences an individual’s
attitude and behavior.
Cultural Knowledge: Broad, multifaceted knowledge acquired through living in a certain
culture.
Factual Information: Objective knowledge of a culture obtained from others through
communication, research, and education.
Experiential Knowledge: Knowledge acquired only by being involved in a culture other
than one’s own.
Interpretive Knowledge: Knowledge that requires comprehensive fact finding and
preparation, and an ability to appreciate the nuances of different cultural traits and patterns; this
knowledge is gained only through experience.
Self-Reference Criterion: The unconscious reference to one’s own cultural values in
comparison to other cultures.
Ethnocentrism: The belief that one’s own cultures is superior to others.
Area Studies: Environmental briefings and cultural orientation programs which provide factual
preparation for living or working in another culture
Cultural Assimilator: A program in which trainees must respond to scenarios of specific
situations in a particular country.
Sensitivity Training: An approach based on the assumption that understand and accepting
oneself is critical to understanding a person from another culture; focuses on enhancing a
manager’s flexibility in situations that are quite different from those at home.
Field Experience: Placing a trainee in a different cultural environment for a limited time; for
example, living with a host family of the nationality to which the trainee will be assigned.

Questions for Discussion

1. Comment on the assumption, "If people are serious about doing business with you, they will
speak English."

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 The question is best answered by a describing an incident that occurred at an international
conference. The topic of languages arose and an American businessman, who fully expected
to hear English as the answer, asked a small group of people what they thought to be the
language of international business. Some were, indeed, of the same opinion until a Japanese
gentleman brought up his view. "To me," he said, "the most important language of
international business is my customer's language."

Language provides access to local society. Although English may be widely spoken, and
may even be the official company language, speaking the local language may make a
dramatic difference. For example, firms that translate promotional materials and information
are seen as being serious about doing business in the country.

English may well be the most used common language of business transactions and
interaction, but its use cannot be taken for granted. Over 90% of the world's population has a
mother tongue other than English. Cultural myopia (or worse still, chauvinism) will not
generate the type of long-term relations needed in business. Also, although many do speak it
as a second language, they may have difficulties in comprehending it (especially if the
speaker is not careful in the choice of words and terminology), and English differs by
speaker. "The British and the Americans are separated by the same language." An excellent
set of guidelines for these situations is provided by Riddle, D.I. and Z. D. Lanham,
"Internationalizing Written Business English: 20 Propositions for Native English Speakers,"
The Journal of Language for International Business, 1985.

2. You are on your first business visit to Germany. You feel confident about your ability to
speak the language (you studied German in school and have taken a refresher course), and
you decide to use it. During introductions, you want to break the ice by asking "Wie geht's?"
and insisting that everyone call you by the first name. Speculate as to the reaction.

In many cultures, formal and informal rules exist for human interaction. Quite often rules in
a given culture do not become evident to an international business person until they realize
something is wrong. In the situation described, the person's request is probably as overly
friendly and offensive. In many cultures calling a business associate by the first name or
using the second person singular (for example, the French "tu") is unheard of. Whereas the
French reserve the informal only for childhood friends, the Swedes, for example, tend to be
informal with everyone.

Sharon Ruhly, in her book Orientation to Intercultural Communication (Chicago, Science

Research, Inc., 1976), provides a system for analyzing different levels of culture. The
technical level can be learnt from factual materials. The formal level of culture is learnt by
trial and error. Rules for particular behavior exist, as indicated in the situation described.
The informal level of culture is learnt through modeling; for example, the roles men and
women have in a certain culture. Calling a person by the first name (at all or too soon) is a
violation of the informal levels of culture.

In some cultures, different degrees of "acceptance" exist. For example, in the Soviet Union,
a business person may follow his or her own progress by observing what business partners
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 call him or her. George Smith may start as Gospodin (Mr.) Smith, progress to Georgij
Ivanovich (if his father's name happens to be John), finally to being called Goga.

3. What can a company do to culture-sensitize its staff?

A company can make its marketing staff aware of cultural differences by educating them
through literature and statistical research, and also by sending them abroad to experience the
differences. Experience alone is not enough, because there are many underlying factors to a
culture that are not readily apparent. Knowledge of the language is required if one is to learn
from living in another culture. Marketers must also learn about the religious values of a
given culture, as religious holidays and religious regulation of foods affect marketing
strategies. The role of religion can also determine the effectiveness of using sexual
connotations in advertising. Product usage is determined by lifestyles, so lifestyles must be
both observed and researched. Research is required to determine, for example, how people
perceive a certain product, or if it is new, how readily they are likely to accept it. If it has not
been introduced before, there may be cultural reasons for that, and perhaps the product
should be altered in order to fit the cultural values present.

The Business Council for International Understanding estimates that international personnel
who go abroad without cross-cultural preparation have a failure rate ranging from 33-66% in
contrast to less than 2% of those who had the benefit of such training. In today's
environment, however, each and every marketer will be involved, one way or another, with
the international market. Although very few, if any, companies report training marketers in
any specific way, it is an issue worth our concern.

4. What can be learned about a culture from reading and attending to factual materials?
Given the tremendous increase in international marketing activities, where will companies in
a relatively early stage of their internationalization process find the personnel to handle the
new challenges?

Objective or factual information is obtained through communication, research, and

education. In most cases they play a supplementary role, providing general or country
specific information before operational decisions are made. Factual materials on cultural
aspects abound as seen in the text in the section on "Sources of Cultural Knowledge." The
many reports that exist on "Doing Business in X" assist the international business person to
do homework before actually having to "get his or her feet wet." The technical and formal
dimensions of culture can be studied and prepared for. The same applies to the informal
dimension, but to a lesser degree. Only once culture is experienced, will the manager's
acculturation process begin.

The internationalization of personnel can occur in two ways: (1) by training existing
personnel, or (2) bringing in outside personnel.

A company can make its existing staff aware of cultural differences by educating them
through literature and statistical research, and also by sending them abroad to experience the
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part.
 differences. Experience alone is not enough, because there are many underlying factors to a
culture that are not readily apparent. Knowledge of the language is required if one is to learn
from living in another culture. Managers must also learn about the religious values of a
given culture, as religious holidays and religious regulation of foods affect marketing
strategies. The role of religion can also determine the effectiveness of using sexual
connotations in advertising. Product usage is determined by lifestyles, so lifestyles must be
both observed and researched. Research is required to determine, for example, how people
perceive a certain product, or if it is new, how readily they are likely to accept it. If it has not
been introduced before, there may be cultural reasons for that, and perhaps the product
should be altered in order to fit the cultural values present.

The Business Council for International Understanding estimates that international personnel
who go abroad without cross-cultural preparation have a failure rate ranging from 33-66% in
contrast to less than 2% of those who had the benefit of such training. In today's
environment, however, each and every employee will be involved, one way or another, with
the international market. Although very few, if any, companies report training marketers in
any specific way, it is an issue worth our concern.

Recruiting from the outside often is the only way for smaller and medium-sized businesses
that are starting the internationalization efforts. Appropriate persons can be found from
international graduate programs, from more advanced companies, or by attracting people
who have acquired their international "spurs" working in the U.S. Commercial Service or the
Peace Corps, for example.

5. Management at a U.S. company trying to market tomato paste in the Middle East did not
know that, translated into Arabic, tomato paste is "tomato glue." How could they have
known in time to avoid problems?

A company marketing a product in a foreign country must use a translator who is a native or
fluent speaker of the language of the target country. The employment of a local advertising
or market research agency is an effective way to accomplish this, and it is advantageous
because a local agency can advise on cultural factors influencing the marketing of the
product, as well as language factors. Some exported products are stamped with the name of
the product in the language of the country of destination, with the English graphics
remaining on the packages. This is acceptable and even beneficial for some products,
because the fact that they are American sometimes helps to sell them. It should be noted that,
international marketers should never translate words but emotion, which then, in turn, may
well lead to the use of completely different words. Therefore, as stated in the above
example, the name tomato paste, which translates as "tomato glue" in Arabic, should be
deleted entirely from the label.

In general, "if you want to kill a message, translate it." Successful standardized marketing
campaigns strive for appropriate commonalities, not 100% similarity. After all, truly good
ideas are difficult to come by and should be exploited to the full.

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6. Give examples of how the self-reference criterion might be manifested.

The self-reference criterion, as proposed by James E Lee, is manifested in marketing

strategies that fail to differentiate between the cultures of target countries and the culture
from which the exports originate. One of the reasons for the imbalance of trade between the
U.S. and Japan is that the Japanese are not interested in many American products that we
attempt to export. Many Americans become angry and believe that the Japanese do not want
to buy our products simply because they are American, not realizing that the Japanese may
not perceive a need for many of the products that we find useful. We impose our cultural
values on the Japanese when we assume that they will want to purchase any products that are
popular domestically.

A product category that exhibits the self-reference criterion is jogging equipment produced in
the U.S. Jogging has not caught on with mass popularity in other parts of the world as it has
in the U.S. Those who do jog in many other countries do not commonly jog on city streets,
but instead prefer to go to sports facilities with tracks or jogging fields. Marketers would be
exhibiting the self-reference criterion if they were to promote jogging equipment to the
general population of other cultures and use commercials depicting joggers running in the
middle of cities.

Internet Exercises

1. Various companies, such as Brookfield Global Relocation Services, are available to prepare
and train international marketers for the cultural challenge. Using their Web site (http://
http://www.brookfieldgrs.com/home.asp ), assess its role in helping the international
marketer.

Companies that specialize in cultural training and providing information about adjusting to
the international marketplace from the cultural point of view provide both general and
company specific advice and training. As seen from the Web site, the consultants work with
clients to identify improvement opportunities within their policy and program. There are a
number of sessions available from Global Relocation Services (Brookfield). The text states
that cultural preparation can range from factual to analytical to experiential. All of these
services are available.

2. Compare and contrast an international marketer’s home pages for presentation and content,
for example, Coca-Cola (at http://www.coca-cola.com) and its Japanese version
(http://www.cocacola.jp). Are the differences cultural?

Web pages have to adjust to both very concrete and cultural dimensions of the marketer’s
effort in the respective countries. For example, product lines and their emphases may vary
(e.g., in Japan, Georgia-brand canned coffee is available) and the promotional efforts may be
country-specific. Even for a company that caters to a very similar target audience, the Web
site will have to reflect the national market characteristics (beyond the obvious language-
related features)
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