Important Reason For Success For Selling The Product Or Service Overseas

International marketing or business is uniquely different from the local market because the product price, place and promotion is vastly different from what is been offered to local customers (Johansson, 2000) With the emergence of the information technology, cross border marketing has never been a distant dream. However, it has never been easier even for giant multinational companies to face challenges that come in international business. The biggest challenge comes from the culture which varies from country to country.

The model of six dimensions of national culture, one of the most powerful studies to describe cultural differences, is the result of the detailed research by Geert Hofstede and Geert Jan Hofstede between 1967 and 1973. By measuring the six dimensions on a scale from 0 to 100 the model helps to differentiate cultures as well as explaining work-related values. Hofstede identified the following six dimensions including the Power distance index (PDI), Individualism (IDV), Masculinity (MAS), Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI), Long term orientation versus Short term normative orienta-tion (LTO), Indulgence versus Restraint (IND) which will be analyzed now. (Griffin & Pustay 2015 p.127); (de Mooij 2010, pp.74-75); (Hofstede, Hofstede & Minkov 2010 pp. 55-296)

Cultural differences between nations often require a company to have multiple marketing strategies. What may be acceptable in on country may not be acceptable in another country. The cultural differences require companies to develop marketing plans that are suitable for each individual culture. Not being aware of and understanding the cultural differences can create costly and embarrassing errors that may actually offend those in other countries. Cultural differences can affect the colors of products, the graphics used on packaging, and how the product is communicated to the foreign target market.

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.

Dicken, P. (2007). Global Shift: Mapping the Changing Contours of the World Economy, 5th. Edition. SAGE Publications

     Cultures are varying among different parts of the globe. People with different cultures have different characteristics and viewpoints on the subjects due to diverse understanding and method of learning. During the past few decades, the international trade grows in a very rapid rate due to the advantages that it provides; “increased sales, operational efficiencies, exposure to new technologies and broader consumer choices” (Heslin). Therefore, when considering the culture aspect to current business world, it is crucial for business to understand the culture aspect because of the tremendous growth of international business as well as utilize the international market to its maximum

Using appropriate theories critically analyse the role of culture in International Business. Support your answer by quoting relevant examples from the case study.

This essay will discuss the influence of cultural dimensions on behavior. A cultural dimension is defined as a perspective of a culture based on its values and cultural norms. In particular, Hofstede’s cultural dimension of individualism vs. collectivism will be discussed. Individualism vs collectivism is defined as the preference of a person only being concerned about oneself and looking after oneself, compared to a person who wants to remain in a closely knitted network. These are some terms with definitions which will be used in this essay: the Asch paradigm, which refers to the studies conducted by Solomon Asch, in which he showed his participants different lines and asked them to verbally judge and respond as to what the length of the

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate why it is essential to understand cultural differences to achieve success in the 21st century. The paper focuses on the adaptations that different industries are incorporating into their business practices to meet the needs of the global consumer. In particular, the paper attempts to address the adaptations that industries are undergoing to cater to ethical and migration related requirements of the consumers.

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.

In the light of cultural distance, several models that had been acknowledged used to analyse cultural variations in terms of many aspects (Mooij & Hofstede 2010). Similarly, cultural consequences could be beneficial for the global marketing in any business and can help to decide which advertising strategy is more relevant to adapt (Mooij & Hofstede 2010). Hofstede model was the pioneer that distinguishes the culture into categories and became the most common have used among scholar and practitioners ( ). It had found great appreciation and had broadly implemented in many business systems ( ). Remarkably, the model implies that the culture is a society with similar collective concept and way of thinking which differentiates each group from another (Hofstede 1980 cited in Khalik at al. 2011).

Growth of research addressing the relationship between culture and consumption is exponential. Thus, culture’s influence on consumption and marketing had drawn increasing attention in recent years. Hofstede’s framework is the most widely used national cultural framework in psychology, sociology, marketing and management studies. His dimensions were all constructed in such a way that they addressed basic problems that all societies have to deal with. Thus, these dimensions of national culture were constructed at the national level namely:

Cultural Distance is presumably measured by “the extent to which different cultures are similar or different” (Shenkar, 2001). This construct is now widely used and applied to most business organisation disciplines, such as, management, finance, marketing, and accounting. However, to better explain the impact on global marketing operations, this essay will focus on the marketing segment of the discipline. The study of cultural distance has been used to innovate and transform organisations into foreign expansions and technology transfer (Gomez-Mejia & Palich, 1997). Besides, looking at culture by itself, it is a complicated term to understand. It is seen as a woolly concept , almost impossible to observe and ‘measure’ (Tayeb, 2000c); by then adding the measurement of “distance” between different cultures presents a greater challenge due to the fact that cultural behaviour is not the same across the world. A close attempt at measuring culture would be to break it down to components or dimensions.

Numerous researchers have developed a variety of measures in order to explain and quantify the ways in which culture differs between national groups, however, the most recognized work was performed by Geert Hofstede in the 80’. He was the first to characterize national culture into four cultural dimensions. His work also included numerous world-wide researches, mapping the cultural dimensions of

While business strategy plays a key role in successful collaboration and building a global brand, understanding the culture of the country being invested in is paramount. The culture dictates the methodology and approach for numerous operating models and a lack of research and understanding of the culture can quickly lead to demise for a company seeking to expand. A considerable amount of companies fail to complete substantial or intensive research before expanding their businesses beyond the United States border (Chung & Smith, 2007) and as a result do not set themselves up for optimal success. An area of extreme significance for the business in which the understanding of the local culture has far reaching effects is marketing. The onus is on management to do their research and put together a marketing team that understands the cultural dynamics and can tailor a marketing package that suits that dynamic (Jensen, 2015). In preparing their product or service for market, management needs to critically review the marketing strategy to ensure the marketing strategy is localized to the culture being operated in and is not part of a one size fits all marketing strategy.