Emic vs Etic

Cultural differences according to Adler "involves the integrated and maintained system of socially acquired values, beliefs, and rules of conduct which impact the range of accepted behaviors distinguishable from one societal group to another". (Adler, N. J. (1997). International dimensions of organizational behavior (3rd ed.). Cincinnati, OH: Shout-Western College Publishing)

Geert Hofstede believed that national cultures were potentially homogenous with organisational cultures, and that national cultures could be quantitatively identified and compared (King and Lawley, 2013). Hofstede over a four-year period carried out 116,000 morale surveys, from 72 countries, using IBM subsidiaries (Kirkman, Lowe and Gibson, 2006) and from his findings derived a four fold dimensional framework for measuring national cultures. His first dimension, Power Distance, is the extent to which people within a nation are accepting of the unequal distribution of power within institutions and organisations (Hofstede, 1980). This dimension also helps to explain the way in which leaders and subordinates interact and under what pretences (King and Lawley, 2013). His second dimension is Uncertainty Avoidance, which measures the

The impact of national cultures on marketing practices has been such that it brought about the creation of an academic field, with as a lead-researcher, Geert. Hofstede, on whose writings I have based my analysis.

ETEC, EIEC, and EHEC are three different E. coli pathovars. They follow the oral-fecal route. ETEC is enterotoxigenic E. coli, which have the ability to secrete enterotoxins. The labile toxin functions like the cholera toxin, resulting in diarrhea that leaves the patient weak and depleted of electrolytes. This strain is prevalent among children in third-world countries where water supplies are tainted with feces. The illness is short and requires rehydration, but typically the patient will not need antibiotics/hospitalization.

Fundamental beliefs surrounding the very idea of culture separate the cross-cultural and sociocultural approach, which may seem to suggest incompatibility. Sociocultural psychological understanding of culture is that it employs a “mutually constitutive” or “cyclic model”. (Eom & Kim, 2014) The idea of culture in the sociocultural model is that culture influences people on a

This knowledge of weakness should not be used against people of other cultures or in stereotyping individuals. In obtaining the indices, research was based on data obtained from IBM employees. According to Hofstede, “dimensions and associated country scores were developed through factor analysis of the means of nationally aggregated individual item responses which were collected as part of IBM employee surveys” (Hofstede 491). The problem, however, is that as much as this may be useful in determining the culture of a country, it does not have enough diverse subjects to form a complete perception of an individual, cultural group or organization; especially an organization different from IBM. The diversity of ethnicity, religious belief, social economic status, education and other variables that makes up an individual’s value system may not be reflected in the average IBM employee. Brewer and Verniak, in their article On the Misuse of National Culture Dimensions, believe “The correlations among the items used to measure the national culture dimensions are positive and highly significant at the aggregated national (also known as “ecological”) level, but are mostly low and insignificant and sometimes of opposite sign at the individual level” (Brewer and Venaik

Understanding social measurements turns out to be progressively vital as multinational business exercises keep on increasing. In order to remain focused and to minimise issues, organisations cannot accept an ethnocentric way to deal with staffing. While trying to recognise how an association ought to be organised globally, significant research has been directed to recognise different social measurements. Hofstede’s model of cultural dimensions has turned into the most generally acknowledged and oftentimes referred to demonstrate for diverse research. In any case, the model accepts comparable reactions from all people inside a society and does not represent distinct contrasts. The findings from this study discovered

Culture is defined as the symbols, language, beliefs, values, and artifacts that are part of any society. Culture is a multidimensional component that cannot be generalized for the sole purpose of creating a comprehensive methodology that is applicable to the entire world. To further dissect culture, Geert Hofstede, a renowned Dutch social psychologist, created the Cultural Dimensions Theory. With it, national culture can be analyzed along six different dimensions: Power Distance Index, Individualism versus Collectivism, Uncertainty Avoidance Index, Masculinity versus Femininity, Long Term Orientation versus Short Term Normative Orientation, and Indulgence versus Restraint. These different dimensions of culture were initially identified to understand how culture influences workplace values. Similarly, the Hofstede dimensions of natural culture can be used to understand the culture that determines its people’s participation or ignorance to an American pre-approval access programs. By understanding each dimension of the Hofstede model, each country’s cultural needs may be addressed and answered to better recruit patients from around the world.

Cultural assumptions can influence not just an individual 's behavior, but companies ' strategies and the way they choose to structure their organizations. The systems they use to motivate employees and control the organization similarly may be "culture bound," meaning that the underlying cultural assumptions are from the home country. Culture and the systems work as intended there but may not work when they are transferred and used elsewhere. Companies should understand that to be effective their structures and systems need to "fit," or be in alignment with, the culture and conditions of the countries in which they are operating.

Commercial products of multinational companies are being marketed to people from different cultures owing to an increased growth in the world economy (Lin, 2012). Samli (1995) states that in most cases, consumer attitudes are largely driven by the framework of their culture. Mooji points out that global marketing strategies are not culture-free and should not be because its influence on consumer behavior is profound (1998, 2005) .In his article “The Globalization of Markets”, Levitt (1983) argued that customers can be persuaded by the same advertising appeals and values, irrespective of the culture they belong to.

These studies have resulted in identifying five dimensions. These dimensions are masculinity-femininity, power distance, individualism-collectivism, uncertainty avoidance and long term vs. short term orientation. Social psychology between and within many cultures are being investigated actively in many respects and has acquired its own momentum over a long period of time. According to (Draguns, Lee & McCauley, 1999) comparisons with in the cross cultures can be made with the help of personality variables within that culture. As opposed to this, dimensions can also be derived in multicultural research projects can be used to study the relevance and the proximity to their home culture.

The interviewees should complete the questionnaire which contains twelve questions with five scores which means the different degree of agreement. Among the questions, the three culture background related questions are used to judge the recognition degree of Chinese traditional culture and Chinese catering culture of consumers; the three consumer consumption characters questions are used to identify the main consuming model of consumers; while the six consumer behavior statement questions are to describe the principal characters of consumers’ behavior. The questions describing the consumer behavior characters are designed based on the “AIO” (Activities/ Interests/ Opinion) life style research, by Shrum and Lowrey. is mainly concerns the statement related with understanding consumers’ purchasing behavior (such as, the extent of regarding opinion leader, characters of consumption behavior, price sensitivity and the financial hesitation when purchasing and the loyalty of brand interest). In the questionnaire, an efficient evaluation system—Likertscales (Sarantakos,S, 2005:250) is adopted, measuring every question by using 5 scores. And the distribution of cultural dimension related questions in questionnaire as table 2 listed:

Moreover, Hofstede defines “dimensions as an aspect of culture that can be measured relative to other cultures. Cultural dimensions enable the provide ways of understanding behaviour encountered in business situations that at first may appear odd, mysterious or inscrutable”. Therefore, cultural dimensions present a dominant role in understanding the organizational culture of different countries.

Marketing across cultures around the world is increasingly becoming a thriving business with the fast-speed globalisation nowadays. The Four ‘Ps’ of marketing, namely product, price, place and promotion, include most of the elements of marketing decision-making. However, socio-cultural factors, in considering the combination of marketing strategies, will always run through them. Socio-cultural factors have a huge influence in people's concept of product and buying behavior. Lack of cultural awareness not only can lead to a decrease of product sales, but can even collapse the company’s whole international image. In this sense, understanding cultural differences plays an incredibly significant role in process of developing

Correspondence: Samin Rezvani, Graduate School of Management, Multimedia University, 63100, Cyberjaya, Malaysia. Tel: 60-12-256-4481. E-mail: rezvani_samin@yahoo.com Received: May 29, 2012 doi:10.5539/ass.v8n12p205 Abstract Country of origin has become a significant phenomenon in consumer behaviour studies. Hence, increasing the