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PART I:
PREMARKETING
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Chapter 1
Culture Impacts of Markets: Pitfalls and Potentials
AN INTRODUCTION TO CULTURE
Over 450 definitions of the word culture exist.1 Culture is a system of communications that makes a human society possible that incorporates the biological and technical behavior of human beings with their verbal and nonverbal systems of expressive behavior. Culture is the sum total of a way of life, including such things as expected behavior, beliefs, values, language, and living practices shared by members of a society; it is the pattern of values, traits, or behaviors shared by the people within a region.
Some catalyst must exist that is capable of transforming private meanings into public meanings so they become understood by other (future, unborn) members of the society; culture is that catalyst. Culture consists of both explicit and implicit rules through which experience is interpreted. It is the instrument by which each new generation acquires the capacity to bridge the distance that separates one life from another. The function of culture is to establish modes of conduct, standards of performance, and ways of dealing with interpersonal and environmental relations that will reduce uncertainty, increase predictability, and thereby promote survival and growth among the members of any society.
Human societies create a hierarchy of codes for regulating human interaction which offers order, direction, and guidance in all phases of human problem solving by providing “tried and true” methods of satisfying physiological, personal, and social needs. Shared cultural norms give the people of any society a sense of their common identity and a means of relating to one another. Culture provides standards and “rules” regarding when to eat and what is appropriate to eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks, and what to serve to guests at a dinner party, a picnic, or a wedding.
Culture influences behavior and explains how a group filters information; cultural meanings render some forms of activity normal and natural and others strange or wrong. In the process of social evolution, people find certain behaviors and values to be adaptive and helpful; others are found nonadaptive and even harmful. Helpful practices are shared and rewarded; harmful practices are discarded and discouraged. Over a period of time, useful behaviors, values, and artifacts become institutionalized and incorporated as part of the cultural traditions. The individual internalizes these institutionalized practices and often forgets their origin. Shaking hands, a characteristic form of greeting in many Western cultures, may have originated in the primitive practice of strangers clasping each other’s weapon arm, both as a sign of friendship and as protection from attack. Its original function had considerable usefulness and was therefore institutionalized as a social tradition; now, thousands of years later it is functionally obsolete but it still survives as a valued custom. Likewise, many of any society’s cultural behaviors and traditions have outlived their original purpose and survive as symbolic acts-a form of “cultural baggage.” These societal norms have led to the development and pattern maintenance of institutions in society with a particular structure and way of functioning. These include the family, education systems, politics, and legislation.
Institutions (schools, social clubs, churches, unions) reinforce the societal norms and the ecological conditions that led to them. In a relatively closed society (as that of the Japanese), such a system will hardly change at all. Institutions may be changed, but this does not necessarily affect the societal norms; and when these remain unchanged, the persistent influence of a majority value system patiently smoothes the new institutions until their structure and functioning is again adapted to the societal norms. Cultural beliefs, values, and customs continue to be followed so long as they yield satisfaction. However, when a specific standard no longer fully satisfies the members of a society, it is modified or replaced, so that the resulting standard is more in line with the current needs and desires of the society. Thus, culture gradually but continually evolves to meet the needs of society.
These norms differ between cultures. One culture may focus on different aspects of an agreement (e.g., legal, financial) rather than another (e.g., personal, relationships). Some cultures focus on the specific details of the agreement (documenting the agreement), while other cultures focus on how the promises can be kept (process and implementation). Americans may negotiate a contract while the Japanese may negotiate a personal relationship. Culture conditions people to view and to value differently the many social interactions inherent in fashioning an agreement. For example, a study found that the Chinese would choose decision alternatives involving greater face saving, longer term repayment of obligations, more authoritarian and less consensual decision process, and greater focus on pan-ethical viewpoint than Anglos.2 The Chinese tend to accept their environment rather than seeking to change it. They seek to fit or harmonize with the environment while Westerners seek control of their environment. These behaviors, deeply rooted in their respective cultures, have immense implications for business behaviors and marketing practices.
One example lies in the differences of the importance of the individual to the group (individualism versus collectivism). In Japan, the impulses and needs of the individual tend to be subordinated to the good of the group; in the United States, any intrusion by the group on the rights of the individual is regarded as unwarranted (if one is the land of the big “WE,” the other is the land of the big “I”). In Japan, predominant values are for minimizing differences, preserving harmony, and reinforcing group loyalty; these customs are derived from ancient Japan where a nation short on resources but long on people required the participation of all its members in an orderly manner if survival were to result—hence, a heavily collectivist tradition evolved. In the United States, the prevailing customs tend for maximizing difference, confrontation, and compromise. This individualistic approach may be derived from the frontier days when one’s nearest neighbor was miles away and one had to be very driven, self-oriented, and individualistic to survive. The aim of decision making in one culture is to avoid discord in pursuit of consensus, while in the other culture, it is to promote competition in ideas in pursuit of objective truth—vastly different philosophies but equally reasonable based upon their own respective geographical limitations and history.
Few humans are consciously aware of their own culture. This is analogous to a fish in water. The fish is at home in, and comfortably unconscious of, its environment, the water. The last thing a fish would discover would be water. It becomes uncomfortable and aware of its environment only when it is out of the water and exposed to air. Similarly, mankind, throughout most of history, has been only vaguely conscious of the existence of culture and has owed this lack of consciousness to contrasts between his tribe’s own customs and those from another tribe with which he happens to be in contact. This results in culture shock when humans find themselves out of their natural cultural environment.
The following provide a set of characteristics for culture:
1. Functional: In every society, the culture of that society has a functional purpose that provides guidelines for behavior that are crucial for the survival of the group.
2. A social phenomena: Culture arises out of human interaction, is a human creation, and is unique to human society.
3. Prescriptive: Culture defines and prescribes acceptable behaviors.
4. Learned: Culture is not inherited genetically but is rather the result of acquired behavior learned from other members of the society.
5. Arbitrary: Cultural practices have a certain arbitrariness since behaviors acceptable in one culture are not acceptable in other cultures.
6. Value laden: Culture provides values and tells people what is expected of them.
7. Facilitates communications: Verbal and nonverbal.
8. Adaptive/dynamic: Culture is constantly changing to adapt to new situations and new sources of knowledge; it changes as society changes and evolves.
9. Long term: Contemporary cultures have resulted from thousands of years of accumulated experience and knowledge.
10. Satisfies needs: Culture exists to satisfy the needs of the people within a society. Culture takes on new traits and discards the old, useless ones according to the society’s needs. However, the core values remain the same.
CULTURE AND MARKETING
One of the most difficult, but also most important aspects of doing business in a foreign country is to understand the differences in cultural perceptions and values, the differences in needs within a society. Within a cultural context, a firm’s products and services can be viewed as offering appropriate or acceptable solutions for individual or social needs. Since marketing is based upon satisfying the varied needs or wants of a firm’s customers, and the needs and wants are very much culturally based, a successful international marketeer seeks to understand the cultural mores of the country to which he/she is attempting to market. If a product is no longer acceptable because a value or custom related to its use does not adequately satisfy human needs or fails to satisfy or address adequately the particular cultural values of the society, the firm producing it must then be ready to adjust or revise its product offering. The need to address a potential market from a cultural point of view prior to marketing to the foreign country or transact a business deal with another society separates the successful firm from the unsuccessful one. Culture and cross-cultural differences can be seen in a variety of human interactions, including but not limited to language, nonverbal communications, religion, time, space, color, numbers, materialism, manners and customs, aesthetics, status consciousness, and food preferences. Any of these interactions are potential pitfalls for the unweary or careless, as many companies, both American and otherwise, have discovered to their dismay. An interesting example is filter-tipped cigarettes. Filter-tipped cigarettes often sell poorly in less developed countries. Consumers in wealthier countries are more aware of the health risks and willing to pay more for the filter tip. In poor countries where the life expectancy rarely exceeds 40 years, threats from cancer are much less real and can be more easily ignored. For these consumers, the extra cost involved in the filter becomes the critical issue.
Language
Eskimos have many words to describe the concept of snow because the difference in the forms of snow plays a much more important role in their daily life than say, a native of Bermuda or Haiti. A country’s language is key to its culture. Language expresses the thinking patterns of a culture; what is important and what is not important to a particular culture can be ascertained by what is present and what is not present in its language. The words of the language are merely concepts reflecting the culture from which it is derived. It is the spoken language that dominates as it changes more quickly and reflects the culture more directly. The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis suggests that language is not merely a mechanism for communicating ideas, but is itself a shaper of ideas.
Regional dialects can produce substantial differences in the same language (note natives from Minnesota, Mississippi, and Massachusetts may not be able to easily understand each other). For example, former West Germans and former East Germans have difficulty communicating. The language of West and East Germans diverged for 45 years since they were divided in 1945 and until their reunification in 1990. The Wessi (as a West German is called in East Germany) have different words and different meanings for the same word than their cousins in the East.3
Cultures are proud of their native tongue. In today’s modern world, concerns exist in many countries that one’s language is becoming obsolete. France passed a law in February 1994 which became effective in 1996 that French radio stations have to devote at least 40 percent of their prime-time music programming to songs in French. This ignores the fact that English is the language of choice for the hip in France. The law also indicates every second French song has to come from so-called new talent; the law does not require that the artists show talent, simply that they haven’t made any hits. Critics complain that the 40 percent quota is too high, citing the mediocrity and uniformity of French music production. France is seeking to protect its culture against what it considers the perfidious influence of the English language.4 Disney was taken to court because merely seven out of 5,000 items in its Paris retail store did not have French labels. (Parisian law requires all labels be written in French.)
French consumers prefer American television and tune out French programs. American films account for over 70 percent of all box office receipts in the European Union. (Jurassic Park had lines that stretched for blocks; meanwhile, the high-budget French film, Queen Margot was moderately successful in France and flopped abroad.) The French government considers this invasion American cultural imperialism. France spent $16 billion to produce cultural products in France in 1994, three-quarters of which came from the government. The European Union demands that 51 percent of all television programming be European. French moviegoers pay an 11 percent tax so the government can provide most of the funding for the French film industry. French language must be used on television and radio, in all advertising, and in schools and workplaces. The use of an English term is forbidden if an adequate French word is available.5
The major blunders in language come from mistranslation, lack of understanding of slang or idioms in the native language, and use of the wrong dialect. Exxon’s Japanese brand name, Esso, meant stalled car when pronounced phonetically in Japanese. Exxon’s replacement of Enco referred to a sewage disposal truck. A Spanish translation for Budweiser: King of Beer used the wrong gender; Beer (cerveza) is a noun of the feminine gender in Spanish, and therefore cannot be the King, but must be the Queen of Beers. “Cue” toothpaste was introduced in France by Colgate-Palmolive who did not realize that Cue in French is a pornographic word. When the American film City Slickers went to France, its title was changed to Life, Love, and Cows.6 Brown sugar is referred to differently according to Hispanic locales and backgrounds; in New York (azucar negra), Miami (azucar prieta), California (azucar cafe), South Texas (azucar morena), and elsewhere (azucar pardo)7. Americans are not the only ones who make translation errors. Creap (Japanese coffee creamer) and Super Piss (a Finnish product for unfreezing car locks) were products introduced into the United States which, not surprisingly, did not prosper.
The solution to avoiding such faux pas is backtranslating: having one translator translate a document or ad from the original language to the intended language and having a second translator independently translate the message back to the original language. If the incoming and outgoing messages agree, the translation is likely to succeed. If there is disagreement, analysis of the message must be made, the message changed, and backtranslated again until the two match. For example, the term “entree” means “appetizer” in Australia, but “main course” in Israel; if the product were labeled an entree, its price and market position would need to differ considerably in those two countries.8 Although backtranslation will solve the problems of literal translation issues, it does not eliminate the problems of whether or not the “context of use” is the same.
Nonverbal Communications
Nonverbal behavior may be defined as any behavior, intentional or unintentional, beyond the words themselves that can be interpreted by a receiver as having meaning. Nonverbal behaviors could include facial expressions, eye contract, gestures, body movements, posture, physical appearance, space, touch, and time usage which are different from culture to culture. Nonverbal behaviors either accompany verbal messages or are used independently of verbal messages. They may affirm and emphasize or contradict spoken messages. Nonverbal behaviors are more likely to be used unconsciously because they are habitual and routine behaviors. Over 70 percent of the content of any message is not contained in the verbal but in the nonverbal portion of the message. People will tend to emphasize the nonverbal element and override the verbal if there is disagreement between the verbal expression and the body language.
Noise consists of the background distractions that have nothing to do with ...
