Cross Cultural Adaptations

John Orkis

11/18/2014

Mkt 351

Homework Assignment 3

Cross-Cultural Adaptations

Country Characteristics that affect business: The United Arab Emirates is the country being looked at in this evaluation. There are more than four characteristics that affect doing business in the area, but major factors for a company marketing products should look at these factors first.

1. Free Trade Zones are crucial in the United Arab Emirates. If you do not operate your business in a free trade zone you have to have a business partner with at least a 51% share of your business. While it may not be related directly with marketing free trade zones are an important factor for any American company when doing business in the United Arab Emirates. Most of the non-oil economic growth comes out of the free trade hubs in the country.

2. The abundance of their primary exported goods oil and natural gas gives the country large revenues. This excess and large revenue, especially seen in the major cities of Abu Dhabi and Dubai, will leave consumers with large amounts of money to spend. If a company or a marketer can produce a good that is desired in the large areas it could be very profitable. The two areas have a high demand for luxury goods, or new foods, ideas, or technology.

3. Culture, Religion, and climate should tie into one. The culture of the area is very representative of the religion. Old world values, and are most often very different then western ideals and practices. Entertainment may be influenced slightly, but still with values and practices of the area predominantly portrayed. The climate will also affect certain products, how often something is in the sun and temperature will differ quite frequently than here in Michigan. It could affect the longevity of a product, and may wear it down faster than usual. Affecting warranties, and the life of a product.

4. Imports in the country are big, and far outweigh the number of exports, and this is mostly due to...