What is cross cultural marketing?

What is cross cultural marketing? INTRODUCTION: CROSS CULTURAL MARKETING: Cross cultural marketing is a marketing done with two or more different cultures i.e. it is done internationally on a personal level, which means when planning marketing campaigns and media cultural differences are taken into consideration, understanding the need for maintaining the balance between Globalization and Localization and last but not the least Implementation of the strategies that are required to respect the differences while unifying of brand messages are taken into consideration. Cross Cultural Marketing is a research that takes place across the cultural groups or nations. Due to Globalization and International marketing, Cross Cultural Marketing has become very important. The nature of the Research is also becoming highly diverse. According to International view, to determine the degrees of adaption, competitive advantage and attractiveness of the markets the information of marked is used. GREET HOFSTEDE THEORY: Greet Hofstedes Cultural Theory has described National Cultures. This research was firstly conducted between 64 countries to identify the national culture differences across subsidiaries of multinational firms (IBM). There were many other research conducted such as: elites of 19 countries, studies of students of 23 countries, up-market consumers of 15 countries and commercial airline pilots in 23 countries. All the above studies together identified four cultural dimensions and the fifth one was added later on. The nature of all the managerial skills depends specifically on their culture. It is not necessary that a management philosophy or technique is going to be same as another. Culture is said to be a conflict source rather than synergy and cultural difference can be disastrous and often nuisance at its best level. There are Five Cultural Dimensions in Hofstede Cultural Dimensions, they are: Power Distance Index(PDI) Individualism(IDV) Masculinity(MAS) Uncertainty Avoidance Index(UAI) Long Term Orientation(LTO) 1) Power Distance Index: It is an extent to which the members who are less powerful in the organisation think that the distributions of the power amongst them are unequal. It defines inequality but it is defined from below and not from above (more vs. less). It says that the level of inequality in society is advised by the followers as much as by the leaders. The power on Inequality are of course includes in the extremely facts of any society. The awareness of societal inequality is there in anybody having some International experience, but some of them are more unequal than others. 2) Individualism: Individualism is a degree in which ‘Individualism is on one side vs. the opposite side ‘collectivism; on the individualistic side individual are collected into groups and we can find the societies in which the co operation between the individuals are loose, everyone is for himself/herself and his/her family. On the other hand Collectivism, we can find the societies in which Individuals are in groups but having great co operation amongst them, these families include grandparents, uncles and aunties, which protect them in exchanging unquestioning loyalties. This dimension is addressed to all the societies of the world and is extremely fundamental. 3) Masculinity: Masculinity has femininity on its opposite side (Masculinity vs. Femininity). Another fundamental issue on any society in the world is the distribution of roles between the genders of the society. According to IBM studies, the value of mens differing more than the value of womans in the society. The value of mens from one country to another containing the dimensions are assertive, competitive and maximal to the value of the women on one side to modest, caring and similar to the value of womens on the other hand. The assertive pole is said to be ‘Masculine. There is a gap between the mens value and womens value in masculine countries as they are competitive and assertive. 4) Uncertainty Avoidance Index: The societies of Uncertainity and ambiguity are tolerated by the ‘Uncertainty avoidance index. It refers to the search of truth by mans. It refers till what extent a culture program is comfortable or uncomfortable to its member in a situation which is unstructured such as surprising, novel and unusual. In the countries avoiding uncertainty peoples are emotional and inner nervous energy motivate them a lot. Countries avoiding uncertainty minimises such situation by applying strict rules and laws, safety and security measures and the opposite countries accepting uncertainty have few rules and are relativist on religious and philosophical level, and avoid their environment to accept emotion. 5) Long term orientation: It has Short term orientation on its opposite side, in this dimention the students of 23 countries were taken into consideration and a study was been done by way of questionnaire framed by Chinese scholar. It was not on the basis of truth. In Long term orientation the values are on the basis of frugality steadfastness and in short term orientation there was traditional respect, fulfilling social obligations. The techniques of Confucius found both the negative and positive v alues of the dimensions. This dimention is also applied on the country without a Confucian heritage. Those who are engaged in International Business, Sometimes it is amazing to know how different peoples behave in other cultures. We Human tend to have a feeling that all the peoples are same, but it is not like that. Therefore if somebody goes to some other country to make decisions and is going to make decisions same like he used to take in his own country, then it is sure that he is going to take some very bad decisions. Hofstedes research gives us some knowledge about other cultures so that if we are going to some other country, we should be more effective   interacting with peoples in that country. If the information of Hofstedes research is applied properly than it should reduce the level of anxiety, concern and frustration. Most importantly this theory will give an Understanding edge which results to more successful results. Apart from all this there are several drawbacks of applying Hofstedes Theory they are: Firstly the individuals of a country are not related to the averages of that country. Even if this model of theory is said to be correct when it is applied to a general population, one has to be aware that all the regions or even individual will not fit in the mould. It can be used as a reference guide to understand the cultural difference of different countries, but not as a law, as it is known that there are always some exceptions to any rule. Secondly, what is the accuracy of the data? The data is collected by the form of Questionnaires and it has its own limitations. In some cultures the content of the questions asked are more important than the context of the questions asked. If the group oriented cultures are taken into considerations than the individual might can answer as if it is addressed to the group in which he or she is. And Thirdly Are the data that has been collected is up to date? As there are many internal and external factors by which the culture of the country change over times. TROMPENAARS THEORY OF CULTURAL DIMENSIONS: Trompenaars theory was invented by a Dutch author named ‘FONS TROMPENAARS. This model was invented to explain the national cultural differences in the organisation and to show that it is a major challenge for international managers to manage this differences in this incongruous world. Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner took ten years to   gather data. Over 15000 managers in 28 countries were sent the questionnaire and 500 usable response was received per country. This helped them to differentiate national cultures. They introduced seven cultural dimensions, they are: Universalism vs. Pluralism Individualism vs. Communitarisnism Specific vs. defuse Affectivity vs. Neutrality Inner direct and outer direct Achieved status vs. Ascribed status Sequential time vs. synchronic time 1) Universalism vs. Particularism: This is based on the question â€Å"Rules are more important or relationships†? A culture assigns the degree of importance either to personal relations or to the law. In universalism peoples think that values, standards and general rules are based on the needs of friends and other relationships and in Particularism friendships and other relations are the terms people think as culture and the rules are on the basis of how peoples are related to each other. 2) Individualism vs. Communitarianism: It is based on the question that â€Å"functions that are done by us are on the basis of groups or Individuals†? This means that the peoples are functioning more as individually or in community. In Individualism, Individual are placed in front of community by the peoples and people think that if the individual is happy or fulfilled then they are happy and fulfilled and they themselves take care of their own. In Communitarianism community is placed in front of Individual, hense it is the responsibility of the individual to act in such a way that serve the society. 3) Specific vs. defuse: It is based on a question that â€Å"how far we get involved†? It shows that the responsibility is assigned specifically or accepted defusely. The elements are analysed individually first and then put together in Specific culture and accordingly the lives of the peoples are divided. People concentrates on hard facts, contracts and standards and in Defuse culture all individual elements are related to each other. The Individual elements are given less importance than the relationships between the elements. 4) Affectivity vs. Neutrality: is based on â€Å"Are we displaying our emotions†? In Affectivity people dont feels to hide their feelings, they prefer to show their emotions and on the other side peoples dont posses to show their feelings and they controls their emotions. 5) Inner direct and outer direct: It is based on â€Å"Are we controlling our environment or we are working with it†? This is a degree in which Individual beleaves that they can control the environment or environment is controlling them. In Inner Direct culture peoples believe that Human can control nature if he/she makes an effort to do that even if it is complex. In Outer direct culture peoples believe to live in Harmony with nature as they have an organic view of nature. 6) Achieved status vs. Ascribed status: It is a degree in which Individuals have to prove themselves to achieve status or it is automatically achieved. Peoples in Achieved status culture believe that they have to accomplish something to get their status and in Ascribed Status culture, peoples believe that they have their status from their birth, gender, wealth or age. 7) Sequential time vs. synchronic time: It is a degree with Individual think in one at a time vs. Individual thinking several things at a time. In a sequential culture people think that time is sequential and the do one thing at a time and in Synchronic culture peoples believe that time is flexible and do several things at a time. (http://www.provenmodels.com/580/seven-dimensions-of-culture/charles-hampden-turnerfons-trompenaars/) COMPARISION OF GREET HOFSTEDE THEORY AND TROMPENAARS THEORY OF CULTURAL DIMENSIONS: Of the seven dimensions of Trompenaars Theory two dimentions of Hofstede Theory are closely reflected. Firstly Trompenaars Communitarianism vs. Individualism value orientation seems to be closely identical to the Individualism value orientation of Hofstede theory and secondly Trompenaars Achieved status vs. Ascribed status appears to be linked with Hofstedes Power Distance Index, If one accepts that Nature has done compromise with Status and not achievement than it shows that it has more willingness to accept power distance. This does not completely matches as Hofstedes power index in not dealing only on how according of status is been done but also how power distance is accorded within the society which is not at all covered by Trompenaars Theory. Trompenaars other dimentions such as Affectivityvs. Neutrality which says that feelings are expressed openly can be compared with Hofstedes Masculinity dimension as it focuses highly on some effects of value dimensions as Trompenaars dimension is not a value aspects but behavioural aspect in itself. The Universalism vs. Particularism which does not trust relationships and is preferring roles can determine meaning as a part of Hofstedes Uncertainty Avoidance Index on one hand and Individualism on the other hand. The Specific vs. defuse dimention of Trompenaars Theory cannot be compared to Hopsteades Theory as there are no links between them. CLASSIFICATION OF THE COUNTRIES ACCORDING TO THEIR RESPECTIVE CONSISTANCY: According to an examination that was done and several countries of the world were taking into consideration, It explains that according to both Hofstedes and Trompenaars Theory   the countries like Japan and India are relatively weaker, while UK, USA and Denmark are relatively Egocentric. There are several other countries such as Greece, Spain and Maxico which are more Egostical according to Trompenaars than Hofstedes theory and the differences cannot be explained wholly. According to Hodgetts and Luthans(2000) they feels that the differences can be due to differ in time frames of both the studies which indicates that change of culture has taken place. On the other hand it indicates that Hofstedes theory is becoming out-dated. Let us take an example of Mexico, its consolidation into Global Economy may be moving away from communitarian value. Cultures does not remains same, they changes as time changes. It is not like todays characterization would be same as it was in 1960s or 70s. The interesting point to note is that the countries such as Hungary and Russia are relatively egoistic despite of their communist past. Trompenaars also extended his research by examine the different cultures according to their nationalities, for this he introduced a new dimension: equality vs. hierarchy, in Hierarchy culture the leader has full authority and is having the best knowledge, this dimension is related with Power Distance dimension of Hofstedes theory. There are some more similarities in both the theories such as: UK and North America are relatively egoistic according to   Trompenaars theory and are relatively low according to the power distance dimension of Hofstedes theory. The countries such as Spain and France are said to be less egalitarian and high in power distance dimension on Hofstedes theory. According to Trompenaars German Culture is hierarchical, but Hofstede says that Germany is relatively low according to power distance. These were some of the countries classified by both the theories according to their respective consistency. (www1.ximb.ac.in//Hofstede%20and%20Trompenaars%20compared) TROMPENAARS DIMENTIONS IN INDIA: Indians believe that they are controlled by the environment, so they strongly accept this point, They are concerned how application of ideas and practices should be done. People in India believe that they are a part of a group, as it is a multicultural country; Indians have respect for their religion and are strongly into family values and traditions. Indians displays their affection neutrally, but they shows assertiveness which is allowed to them. They are always non-violent that is what is thought to them from starting. The size of both Public and Private Spaces are same. The people of India Takes care of their Public spaces as entry to their Public spaces can make entries to their private spaces. Most of the Indians are value ascriptions as they believe in their caste system. Their status title depends on their professional titles, their degrees and age. Friendship is given more importance.

The Kung, Shoshone, And Mbuti Tribes: Hunting And Gathering Societies :: essays research papers

As in many societies different groups of people are connected by similar traits. People of hunting and gathering societies also share similar qualities. Although the Kung, Shoshone, and Mbuti live in unique environments they still share numerous common characteristics because of there life styles. The Kung San and Shoshone make critical decisions in similar ways. The people of the Shoshone and Kung are much like a modern community in that they live together but for the most part live separate lives. They come together to hunt, like we to work, but when the hunt is over they get paid, in the form of meat, and go home to their families. If they should choose to any group may leave the whole at anytime. The Mbuti choose to live as a whole. They act as one family. All decisions are made by the community as a whole. If the group cannot reach consensus on a problem then the group may split for that time but will rejoin once the projects are completed. Unlike the Kung and Shoshone the Mbuti stay together, for the most part, throughout the year and do not diffuse when supplies become more plentiful. The two most important things a person needs is food and water. Many different foods are consumed by the Mbuti. There diet consists of meats, fruits, berries, roots, fungus and insects. The Mbuti's food supply is always plentiful, this is due to the habitat they live in and the small number of people living off of any given area. The Shoshone on the other hand live more like a scavengers because of their environment. Meat is rare, they tend to live off the plant life in the forest. A large portion of the Shoshone's diet is plant life. The Kung have a fairly balanced diet of plants and animals but water is a limited resource. For the Kung the reason for moving is to stay where the water is. In the dry season the Kung will all live in close quarters near the permanent water holes. But as the rainy season comes they will be able to spread throughout the region. Foraging societies share three major traits. All of these societies share the work that must be done in the camp. They all live in camps, meaning they never stay in an area for an extended amount of time.

Cause and Effect Essay

According to Brougham (2009), â€Å"College women reported higher overall level of stress and greater use of emotion-focused coping strategies than college men† (Brougham, 2009, pg 85). Recent avoidance of my problems is not helping to solve them. As a college student, my two main stressors are family problems and night-eating. Considering that the old coping methods are not working, a new method needs to be taken into effect. College is a new setting for most students, especially the ones no longer living at home. The transition can be easy and worry-free, or a challenging and stressful time. Brougham states, â€Å"Growth and change were often accompanied by the experience of stress. The cause of stress varies from person to person. Overall there can be similarities such as ’academics, social relationships, finances, daily hassles and family relationships’ (Brougham, 2009, pg 86). As student, academics is the reason why we are in school; we are aiming to get ed ucated and to learn. Family relationships vary from student to student depending on how close the family is. My immediate family and extended family have such a close bond that when I am needed at home, I drop everything for them. Social relationships are smaller support systems individuals can count on. Finances all come down to economic status and a person’s unique financial aid package. Daily hassles range from what I should wear today to not having enough time in a day. The one that affects me the most since I have been growing up is family relationships. I was always taught to put family first and being in college has challenged me to the extreme because not being able to be there for my family when they need me most hurts. It was not until last year that I realized that my dad actually meant something to me. Since I was born until 2010 my dad was an alcoholic, therefore, my memorizes of him are usually negative. Recently since we have found out he has liver failure and he is constantly in and out of the hospital I do not know what else to do but love him. He is currently in the hospital right now and me being school pretending everything is okay just does not feel right. Even thought I had such strong dislike for him everything has changed for that reason and that is why I am his potential liver donor but it is hard to see him slowly struggle to live. For stress, the â€Å"five coping responses are self help, accommodation, approach, avoidance and self punishment† (Brougham, 2009, pg 87). Each type is associated with a positive or negative outcome: The goals of the coping responses are to: (1) self-help by sustaining  emotional well being, (2) approach stress using problem solving strategies, (3) accommodate stress through acceptance and reframing negative outcomes, (4) avoid st ress through denial and blaming others, and (5) self-punish through self-focused rumination and self blame (Brougham, 2009, pg 87). Some of these coping strategies are so hard to break away from if that is how one learned to deal with stress. Stress is not a positive word, but something that brings fear to people. I am constantly stressed, consequently, can never think straight and losing my focus at school. My dad has given me all the opportunities I have never had and even though he was not there for me when I was younger I would do anything for him. Even though I do not know how to cope with family problems I am willing to learn considering that the way I deal with my stress is a negative way usually. Now realizing there are other ways to worry, I would consider trying accommodation. The reasoning behind that coping strategy is that one needs to constantly remind themselves to not think negatively. Hurting yourself is just so much easier than thinking positively. Brougham claims that â€Å"avoidance and self-punishment coping strategies were associated with greater negative outcomes† (Brougham, 2009, pg 87-88). The reason for this is because we do not know any other way to cope. My way of thinking is hard to change, but there has to be change in order to get somewhere in life instead of continuing bad habits. The second stressor correlates to stress: night-eating. â€Å"The transition into college life has been associated with weight gain† (Wichianson, 2009, pg 236). The infamous â€Å"freshman fifteen† refers to the fifteen pounds freshmen in college tend to gains. One main reason for this is because college students tend to eat at night. From my experienced I gained my fifteen pounds yet it was so hard to stop eating. When I was invited to eat at midnight I was always willing to go never realizing how bad that was for me. â€Å"Poor coping and high levels of stress resulting from such a transition make students prone to engage in problematic eating behaviors such as nigh-eating syndrome, which can lead to weight gain† (Wichianson, 2009, pg 236). In college, one is independent – there is no need to ask for permission. Eating usually being scheduled at hope versus college you have the liberty to set your own schedule made it hard. I could never turn down a whooper from burger King, an ice cream sundae from McDonalds, chicken wings from hooters, and breakfast food from  Denny’s. I wondered why I could not tell myself no but it was just so hard because I love food. In college one can eat when they chose and their choice of food is up to them. To some extent, as a teenager, I never learned about nutrition and how many calories one individual is supposed to have. I also never learned to avoid certain food groups. It makes it especially hard to even decide what is healthy to eat in the cafeteria considering nothing is even healthy for you in a school cafeteria. What I found myself doing was eating everything in front of me even when I was full. The way my mom raised us she told us to eat everything and not leave anything on the plate out of respect but food cost money. Currently in our culture the portion sizes of food are huge. At a restaurant a dinner plate is so large yet, you feel guilty not eating it all. Even at fast food restaurants they give you the option of small, medium, large, x-large and sometimes even bigger, eating all this food in general is not good but eating it at night is a heart attack waiting to happen. At night, one eats and goes to bed; the food that was just eaten never gets digested or really has time to go anywhere in your body. The night eating stressor â€Å"grouped coping into two different categories: problem fo cused and emotion focused† (Wichianson, 2009, pg 236). These where the two reasons the article came up with for why we eat at night and cannot stop. I never thought eating at night was problem but as my weight increased and I slept with stomach aches, I knew it was something I no longer wanted to do. In the article it states â€Å"problem-focused coping strategies have been considered adaptive, while emotion-focused coping strategies have been considered maladaptive† (Wichianson, 2009, pg 236) Emotion-focused is eating your feelings as a negative result associated with maladaptive. To some extent any feeling I had I wanted to eat. If I was happy I would eat, if I was sad I really wanted to go eat out. Problem focused is forcing you not to eat at night associated with adaptive. Adaptive in the way that you adapt to a certain eating schedule that way at night I am not hungry and will not feel the need to go out and eat. Research was done and results showed that an â€Å"increase use of maladaptive and decrease use of adaptive coping have been associated with problem eating† (Wichianson, 2009, pg 236). Meaning that I am not alone and many people eat because of the way they feel. The better way to understand this is by scheduling time aside to go and eat. That is what I have done since the  beginning of the school. I give myself one hour three times a day to eat a meal not just a snack the reason for it is because I am at risk. As an overweight student it is difficult to figure out the healthiest way to live life. The reason I eat at night is because I am stressed, yet that is making me more at risk for diabetes because it runs in the family. The best thing for me is to actually set time aside and keep reminding myself that I cannot eat past a certain time usually around seven o’clock. There are many more stressors in my life but currently these are the two I struggle most during college. Being a college student in the nursing program makes me more nervous and afraid of not having time with my family as well as my emotional need to eat all the time. Consider that we are so active all the time it feels that there are never enough hours in a day it makes it that much harder. A quote I was fond of was, â€Å"†¦stress is balancing multiple demands and roles at work, at school, and in their personal life† (Giancola, 2009, pg 246). These basically generalize everything I cannot do. I cannot balance things when I have something higher on my list of prioritizing. Hopefully using these new coping mechanisms I can better myself as a person, student and even daughter.

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