Table of contents
Marketing across culture: 3
Reasons of this dilemma 3
Proposed solution: 5
Pluralism: 6
Cultural analysis before marketing: 6
Change management strategy: 7 Marketing across culture:
Marketing across culture is one of the biggest issues which multinational companies have been confronting nowadays. Since marketing is an important factor for the propagation of a particular product or company, marketing plan should also be effective simultaneously. Every organization has to pay attention towards all the aspects which can make a marketing plan successful and ethical aspect is one of them. Since global marketing is a complex process, ethical issues like cultural diversity is one of the major reasons that can
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Though it has assumed different ethical approaches like absolutism, egoism etc in order to deal with its audience yet there is no remarkable progress in making its service a world popular one. However, there can be several strategic options available to deal with this issue of marketing across culture.
Proposed solution:
Different solutions for dealing with the issue of marketing across culture are as followed:
Pluralism:
The first solution in this regard can be given in the form of pluralism since it enables the organization to have an in-between path of utilitarianism and absolutism. (Hinman 2011) Some organizations use absolute ethics for marketing its products and some consider utilitarianism as the best source of marketing across culture but both of them might cause failure since no absolute policy or theory works when the regions are diverse and discriminate from each other. So, only an organization, who assumes theory of pluralism in order to deal with this global dilemma, can get successful position in global market.
For this purpose, the organization can also do cultural analysis before marketing its product.
Cultural analysis before marketing:
This solution can be regarded one of the most significant steps in order to deal with the dilemma of marketing across culture. The reason behind this claim is that understanding the culture of the native people would not harm their feelings in any way. Suppose, if McDonalds never
Since people and customers to be specific come from different cultural backgrounds, considering and understanding the cultural background and practices of every market niche. In ensuring that the organizational activities do not conflict with the cultures of clients and that they suit the needs of the cultures, the following would be done by the organization;
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.
There are many different impacts that culture has on the way business is conducted; cultural systems of values and beliefs lead to specific interpretations of events and interactions, and different demands and expectations for business relationships often exist for individuals from different cultural backgrounds. Engaging in international and multicultural business requires a level of understanding and awareness of specific cultural issues that might arise due to different customs, perspectives, and values, and a general awareness of the influence of culture is a good thing in business as well as it allows for ongoing learning and consideration without rushing to judgment. Through both a specific and a general understanding of cultural issues in business, more effective strategies for conducting business on an international level can be developed and implemented. The following paragraphs provide specific examples from four differently cultures, identifying the importance of cultural understanding in all international dealings.
Cultural difference between countries raises many issues for firms entering foreign markets. Understanding the local culture is the initial step in helping firms better understand the
Kant (1788) metaphysics view on ethics and morality utilized a utilitarian theory and focused on the duties of the business not being associated with complete self-interest (Carrigan et. al., 2005, p. 481). Metaphysical morality when applied to global marketing directs businesses to seek to satisfy objectives other than business interest. Kant’s study continues to reveal that businesses have a duty to satisfy and deliver benefits through ethical marketing strategies sensitive to the cultures they are trying to influence (Carrigan et. al., 2005, p.481). The pay-off and ultimate moral imperative for a business is securing the sale of the items marketed globally. The businesses’ utilization of Kant’s metaphysical morality can lead to increased market presence as the business appears ethical to the global consumer. The first principle of global marketing is to appear acceptable in behavior, ethical and culturally sensitive during the marketing process. While appearing ethical in marketing, businesses must also adhere to varying truth standards for each global market the business enters.
In the Marketing structure, each candidate offers a particular goal relating to the business model of the product or service, and in what particular manner where the business deal should be executed. Every layer of ethical marketing has dangerous factors that will be elaborated
The increasing innovations and creativity in the business pattern, the cross-cultural business operation, and marketing is increasing day by day. Cross cultural business enables different nations to have a better understanding of global business pattern along with their marketing strategies and tactics that help them to achieve their target in the market place. Moreover, cultures of different nations differ from each other that created the urge for organisations especially multinational corporations to study the culture and life style of other nations before expanding or internationalisation their business organisation.
Companies expanding their services in other countries tend to not want to change their product based on the different cultures due to an increase of capital spent on the adaptation of their goods and services. For example, McDonald’s, an American company based out of San Bernardino, CA, ventured out to British Columbia in 1967. McDonald’s began changing their menus based on the culture of each country they resided in, which in return proved beneficial to the company because the locals accepted the American franchise (James, 2009).
When going global, and in order to succeed in international business, understanding consumer behaviours based on their values and perception of other countries is key for implementing a proper winning marketing strategy. Cultural dimensions help managers and multinational companies respond effectively and positively to values and behaviours that shape a given nation and that might be completely different from the way an organization is accustomed to behave in its country of provenance. McDonalds represents a suitable model of multinational companies that succeeded in translating cultural differences into their products, marketing efforts and practices. In Morocco, McDonalds serves “Halal” options that go in line with the predominant Muslim community, whereas in France you can order wine with your meal, and in a different context, the company banned beef products in India because of the taboo around it and introduced vegetarian alternatives that suit the populations’ preferences and tastes.
National culture is a share understanding that comes from the combination of beliefs, values, attitudes, and behaviours that have provided the foundation for the heritage of a country.
Conducting business internationally has presented various ethical challenges. It is clear that a company must have knowledge on behaviours that are acceptable and ethical standards within a given society. This places a marketer to recognize three key players in the market place which are the company, the industry, and society. These three groups have in most cases conflicting needs and wants and meeting these needs and wants by the marketer is often a challenge (Chonko, 1995).
Globalization and industrialization has influenced international business and ethics to consider a different approach to culture. There are certain perspectives to culture which demand change in the organizational and managerial functions. International companies today formulate separate business plans to strategically overcome cultural and ethical challenges in host countries. Globalization has internationally integrated the world with respect to products, ideas and different aspects of culture. The word culture regulates international businesses as it performs non identically in host countries and the home countries. Ethical challenges faced by a multinational company in a host country often juxtaposed with challenges faced by the company in home countries to see a strong contrast. The external factors and resources that affect the business are different across the globe.
Ross (2011) pointed out that Marketing is a widely used business means of communication between the company and the consumer audience. Marketing is the adaptation of the commercial activities and utilization of institutions by the organizations with the aim to induce behavioral shift on a short-term or permanent basis. In this essay, the popular and famous brand, McDonald 's to analyst the marketing strategy in his international business, which will include how this corporations overcome the political, cultural and economics problem in the overseas market (Ross, 2011).
The second integral element is the targeted culture, the knowledge of which is supposed to be used in order to persuade the found cross-border customers for a purchase. The entering business should be aware of the dominating cultural differences, preferences, tendencies and lifestyles, general beliefs and values. “When designing global marketing strategies, companies must understand how culture affects consumer relations in each of its international markets” (Khalifa, M., 2012). In order to be accepted by the consumers, the company has
To start with a generally known fact, each firm uses its own type of marketing strategy. Therefore, companies in different countries must think about their marketing strategies relative to different cultural values, for instance the mentality of a foreign country’s population as well as their demands and needs. We can divide marketing into three dimensions – domestic,