Ch4 Global cultural environment and buying behavior

Ch4 Global cultural environment and buying behavior

Buying behavior and consumer needs are largely driven by cultural norms. Managers running a company in a foreign need to interact with people from different cultural environment.

In order to grasp the intricaties of foreign markets, it is imperative to get a deeper understanding of cultural differences. From a global marketing perspective, the cultural environment matters for two main reaosn. First and foremost, cultural forces ar a major factor in shaping a company's global marketing mix program. Second, cultural analysis often pinpoints market opportunites.

Evoloving trends, as mapped out by changes in cultural indicators, also lead to market opportunities that can be leveraged by savvy marketers. Consider for a moment the opportunitites created by the "little emperors and empressess" in China, who altogether provide a market of around 300 milliion children. 三億 how amazing!

Children in China impact consumption patterns in three ways
1.they have spending power
2.they have have "pester power" 就是戈戈纏要父母買東西啦
3.they act as change agents.

Defining Culture
1.Culture is learned by people
2.Culture consists of many different parts that are all interrelated withe one another.
...In a sense, culture is a very complex jigsaw puzzle in which all the pieces hang together.
3.Cultural is shared by individuals as members of society.

Elements of culture
Culture consists of many components that interrelate with one another. Knowledge of a culture requires a deep understanding of its different parts. In the section, we describe those elements that are most likely to matter to international marketers: material life, language, social interactions, aesthetics, religion, education, and values.

Let us first consider the communication aspect. As a communication medium, language has two parts: the spoken and the so-called silent language. Silent language refers to the complex of nonverbal communication mechanisms that people use to get a message across. (乾脆叫肢體語言 body language 比較直接)
Failure to follow this rule will sooner or later lead to hilarious or embarrassing situations.

Language is often described as the mirror of a culture....Switzerland with a population of 7.3 millio5n people has four official languages: German (spoken by 63.7 percent of the population), French (19.2), Italian (10%), and Romansch (1%)

P99 the concept of BACK TRANSLATION interested me.
Aesthetics =>p103 Exhibit 4-4 The meaning of Color

Cross cultural comparisons
The Dutch scholar Geert Hofstede has developed another highly useful cultural classification scheme.
The first dimension is labeled power distance. It refers to the degree of inequality among people which is viewed as being acceptable. Societies that are high in power distance tolerate relatively high social inequalities. Low power distance countries tend to be more egalitarian. 平等主義

The second dimension is labeled uncertainty avoidance.
The third dimension is called individualism.