Governments Are Not Always Stable and Friendly. Even If They Start Out This Way, They May Change Which Can Have an Effect on Multinational Firms.

Introduction

Knowledge of culture is essential for those engaged in international marketing. Whether buyers accept or reject a marketing offering will be determined to a large extent by the cultural influences impacting on their cognitive, affective and connotative behaviour. Often culturally determined preferences or reactions to a foreigner’s approach will override what Australians think is rational economic decision making. To understand this behaviour and its impact on the decision maker the subtleties and dynamics of culture must be understood. Thus the purpose of this chapter is to analyse culture, its influences and manifestations and to link the cultural aspects in with the social aspects of international marketing. Finally, the chapter addresses the negotiation process and the cultural impact on that process.

1. Definition

Culture has many definitions.

Kroeber and Kluckholn found 164 definitions of culture with the common characteristics.

• Culture is prescriptive

• Culture is learned

• Culture is dynamic

• Culture is subjective

There appears to be two broad dimensions of culture:

1. Culture is learned

2. Culture is shared

‘Culture is the total way of life in a society’ (Fletcher 1979)

‘Culture is the collective programming of the mind’ (Hofstede 1991).

2. Cultural-Related Factors that Impact on Marketing

Knowledge.

Knowledge of another culture can be factual or interpretive. For example, knowing the ethnic groupings in a country and their relevant political links (and thus spheres of influence) is factual knowledge. Interpretive knowledge is based on feelings and intuition.

Sensitivity.

Cultural sensitivity involves being aware of the nuances of different cultures and having empathy towards those cultures.

Collectivism.

In a collectivist culture, group norms and behaviours are more common than individualistic expression or behaviour. This behaviour impacts on consumer decision making for many varied products....