MARKETING ACROSS CULTURES THE IMPACTS OF CULTURE UPON MARKETING THE PRODUCT ELEMENT AND THE MANAGEMENT OF PRODUCT ADAPTATION ACROSS CULTURES

1. MARKETING ACROSS CULTURES
THE IMPACTS OF CULTURE UPON MARKETING THE PRODUCT ELEMENT
AND THE MANAGEMENT OF PRODUCT ADAPTATION ACROSS CULTURES
Prepared By: Mustafa Mert Dikmen – 10252709
Module Leader: Adrian Goodsall
Module Code: 7BSP0240
Word Count: 2065
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2. Introduction
The biggest area of dispute of international marketing is the question “global standardisation or
adaptation?” The companies have to decide whether to globally standardize the marketing mix or to
adapt the marketing mix elements to each market separately. The marketing concept holds that
consumer needs vary to each target group or foreign market and will be more effective when they are
tailored accordingly (Kotler, 2003). Even though Theodore Levitt (1983) challenged this view by
claiming that the world is becoming a common marketplace in which people, regardless of which
culture they are in desires the same kind of products and lifestyles, it is a fact that even the companies
which have stood by the concept of standardisation such as McDonald’s and Nike, have adapted their
marketing mix when they expanded globally.
Cultural analysis has to be taken into serious consideration if the organisation is choosing to adapt
their marketing mix when moving to international markets; as culture influences all aspects of
consumer behaviour. The difference between different cultures can be critical especially during the
marketing management process because international marketing focuses its resources on global market
opportunities and threats (Keegan, W., Green, M., 2005). The management of the 7 P’s differ
accordingly to the cultural aspects of the society as the term “culture”, shelters many components such
as aesthetics, religion, attitudes and values and education. In addition, the degree of difficulty of
management increases and the process becomes resource intensive as companies expand further.
Product Adaptation across Cultures
Kotler (2003) describes product as “anything that can be offered to a market to satisfy a want or need”
In addition to physical goods, services, persons, places, organisations and ideas can also be identified
as products. To achieve customer loyalty and competitive advantage, a company has to offer a product
which would greatly benefit the customer and more importantly it has to manage its production
activities in accordance with the culture (Onkvisit & Shaw, 2004). Especially customer’s products and
services need to be adapted to foreign markets rather than industrial goods. Consequently, the need for
managing product market evolution is evident. The companies should choose the markets they are
going to enter, the strategy they are going to use and the products they are going to produce carefully
(Albaum et al, 1994). By taking into account the local needs and demands of the foreign environment
and developing products by means of evaluating cultural specifications, customer satisfaction can be
achieved in foreign markets. For instance, during the 1960’s Japanese companies adapted their
products to needs of local markets and gained the upper hand against the British in the Arabian Gulf
area (Tuncalp, 1990). Elements that have to be adapted in most cases to local markets and culture are
design, brand image, packaging (Keegan & Green, 1999).
Adaptation of the Physical Attributes
The compulsory adaptation of physical attributes consists of regulations such as safety standards and
hygiene regulations. However, these kind of obligatory adaptations are trivial in comparison to the
essential adaptations to the differences in consumer behaviour and the physical environment of the
market.
Consumption patterns such as the amount of consumption, the change in consumer taste and the
frequency of consumption varies across cultures (Jean-Claude & Lee, 2005). The size of packing for
instance will change upon the amount of consumption. For example, the word yoghurt is derived from
the Turkish word “yoğur” which means “knead” and is a cultural heritage of the nomadic Turks which
were in need of products that would not go off easily when they were moving from Central Asia to the
west. The effect of this heritage is still visible in Turkey. The consumption of yoghurt is far greater in
Turkey than any other country and this has led marketers to package the yoghurts in sizes big as 10
kg’s. Similarly, milk consumption differs in different climates. While in cold climates milk is an
energy provider, in warm climates it perishes easily. The cultural memory of the people living in warm
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3. climates says that milk cannot be trusted (Mooij, 2001). The lack of trust in milk products leads to
changes in frequency and amount of consumption. Therefore this necessitates the need of a different
type of management of the marketing process. The range of elements that constitute potential demands
for adaptation should be taken into account (Jean-Claude & Lee, 2005). In countries where there are
rugged terrains for instance, four-wheeled vehicles are preferable to the two-wheeled ones.
Consequently in desert climates, cars with inadequate quality of air conditioning systems are almost
impossible to market.
Concerning the issue of product liability, the need for adaptation shows itself once again. Generally, in
cultures where there is high uncertainty avoidance, precautionary measures are not taken regarding the
misuse of products. However in countries where the uncertainty avoidance is relatively low,
precautionary measures are taken because there is a high risk that the manufacturer will be held
responsible for the product. For example in Jordan, a hairdryer won’t come with a warning such as
“Do not use while sleeping” because it is supposed that Jordanian people are not fools. Small
adaptations such as removing or adding a warning from the product can sometimes mean unforeseen
costs. Nestlé for instance, did not consider the level of literacy in the 3rd world countries when
marketing their products. As a result, addition of impure water and the failure to boil the water made
the problem dangerous for babies (Jean-Claude & Lee, 2005).
Adaptation of the Service Attributes
Service demands differ extensively from culture to culture. Hence, adaptation is at utmost importance
when exporting services to different countries. Environmental factors such as the degree of literacy
and technical expertise, locations and climate are some of the reasons why service demands vary.
Strength of relationships and the degree of appreciation of different types of services differ between
cultures. Birgelen et al (2002) found that cultural dimensions within a country affect the service
quality-customer satisfaction relationship. In Europe, it is appreciated when the service encounter is
over the phone or computer. Birgelen’s research also indicates that individualist countries and less
uncertainty avoidant countries do no tend to be bothered by the lack of personal contact and holds a
weaker service quality-customer satisfaction relationship. Similarly, Winsted (1999) listed some
service encounter dimensions to explain satisfaction for restaurants and medical institutions. While
control, courtesy, formality and promptness were used to explain satisfaction for restaurants;
authenticity, caring, friendliness and personalization were used to explain satisfaction for medical
institutions. She further surveyed Japanese and American students to find out the degree of importance
of personalisation. The results were consistent with Hofstede’s (1991) cultural value dimensions.
Personalisation was more important to the American students which are considered to be more
individualist and less important for the Japanese students which come from a more collectivist culture.
Another important aspect of service is the waiting times. However, the waiting times do not apply for
important customers which live in cultures where power distance is high. For example, in countries
like UK where the power distance is low, almost all customers are treated equally and wait evenly to
get the service. Consequently, in cultures where time is very important, it can be seen that
organisations push their resources to speed up the delivery of service process.
Collectivist countries like Arab countries for example, give constructive viva voce (word-of-mouth)
after a decent service encounter. Likewise when they are served poorly they will give a negative viva
voce. This highlights the importance of service within collectivist cultures and indicates that
organisations which are exporting service to these countries must analyse the culture before any export
decision is made to avoid negative viva voce. However, there are many situations where the quality of
the service cannot be identified. Kamamoto (1984) exemplifies this view by explaining that in the case
where stewards serve food on a plane, Japanese customers believe that they should be woken up in
time so that they do not miss the meal; however, for western customers this treatment is considered
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4. impolite. Kamamoto’s example strengthens the view that no service export should take place before
cultural analysis.
Adaptation of Symbolic Attributes
Hofstede (1991) defines symbols as words, gestures, pictures or objects that carry a particular meaning
which is only recognized by those who share the same culture. According to Levy (1959), “People buy
products not only for what they can do, but also for what they mean”. Creative sub-systems within
organisations develop cultural products but do not get involved with the distribution, manufacturing or
advertisement management of these products (Hirschman, 1986). The creation of a new product can be
considered as an important foundation. However, Robertson (1971) notes that making minor changes
to an existing product can be considered as a continuous innovation and gives the example of model
changes made in Mercedes Benz. While the prestige and the quality of the car remain unchanged, the
changes made to the car considering the cultural specifications of an area, trigger the buying behaviour
of consumers in that particular culture.
Moreover, the matter of how symbols can be perceived differently across cultures can be evaluated
further through analysing how people from different cultures interpret the concept of colour. For
instance, using the colour red for packaging in China might be a good idea, whereas the same cannot
be said about Turkey. In China “red” is associated with good fortune; however in Turkey it is
associated with death. As there is uncountable amount of symbols in cultures, the perception of the
objects will vary between cultures as well. If the organisation cannot manage to evaluate the symbolic
value and meaning of things critically, the marketing process will most probably end up with
disappointment. Williams and Longworth’s (1989) case study of Coral Sea tuna fishery can be given
as a good example to explain the importance of adapting symbolic attributes for marketers. In this
case, the efforts of the Australian government to develop exports to Japan resulted in disappointment
because of the ignorance of the fact that the colour of the fish that the government was trying to export
was not coherent with the Japanese culture.
Furthermore, Levy (1959) delved into the nature of the human behaviour and made clear that people
act in ways which they are consistent with the character they want to become. He stressed out the facts
that consumers spend not only money but energy when they are shopping. The usefulness of the object
marketed sometimes does not mean anything if the consumers pass by it without realising it is there.
Even though the customer needs something else, he may go for something which he does not really
need at all. This means that consumers prefer to put in their behavioural energies in an object which
has a symbolic character. In this sense it can be said that the marketer not only markets the product but
the symbolic character of it. If the marketer understands that he is not only selling the good but the
symbolic meaning as well; both the marketer and the consumer will be satisfied. Therefore, marketing
managers must also think about the symbolic significance of the goods; not only the casual needs of
consumers.
Conclusion
Marketing research may be hard to conduct when unknown territories are analysed. Also, it may be
contended that standardization is a key source of competitive advantage and that the consumer demand
is becoming homogenous due to the increasingly globalizing world. These views may be true to some
extent. However, globalization does not mean that the cultural heritages of our world are going to
change. This is because culture is not only the way people do things; it is what brings about human
subconsciousness. Therefore, when an organisation is entering a culturally different market with a
specific kind of product, the product must be adapted to the existing cultural environment. Shoham
(1996), has studied the relationship between standardization and performance and said: “Standardizing
product quality does not have significant effect on either static or growth measures of profit
performance.” Not most marketers have granted the importance of cultural dimensions when
marketing across cultures, even though many examples of failures have occurred throughout history
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5. due to this reason. Adaptation of the product may be costly for the organisation at first glance;
however, the values that organisations learn during this process benefits the organisations in the long
term and amortises the cost of the adaptation process.
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6. References and Bibliography
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Hirschman, E. (1986), "The Creation of Product Symbolism", in Advances in Consumer Research
Volume 13, eds. Richard J. Lutz, Provo, UT : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 327-331.
Hofstede, G. (1991). Cultures and organizations. London: McGraw-Hill
Jean-Claude, U., Lee, J. (2005). Marketing Across Cultures. 4th. ed. London: Pearson Education Ltd.
Keegan, W. and Green, M. (1999). Global Marketing – 2nd edition. United States: Pearson Education,
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Keegan, W. and Green, M. (2005). Global Marketing. 4th. ed. United States: Pearson Education, Inc.
Levitt, T. (1983) “The Globalization of Markets,” Harvard Business Review (May-June): 92-102
Levy, S., J.,(1959), "Symbols for Sale," Harvard Business Review, 37 (July-August), 117-124.
Mooij, M. (2001). University of Navarre [online]. Available from:
http://www.mariekedemooij.com/books/mdemooij_dis_summary.htm [Last Accessed: 2 April 2011].
Onkvisit & Shaw, S. & Shaw, J.J. (2004). International marketing – Analysis and strategy, 4th ed.
Philip Kotler (2003). Marketing Management. 11th. ed. New Jersey: Pearson Education Inc.
Tuncalp, S., (1990), “Export marketing strategy to Saudi Arabia: the case of British exporters”,
Quarterly Review of Marketing, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 13-18
Robertson, T., S. (1971), Innovative Behavior and Communication, New York: Hold, Rinehart &
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Shoham, A. (1996), “Marketing-mix standardization: determinants of export performance”, Journal of
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Winsted Frazer, Kathryn (1999), “Evaluating service encounters: a cross-cultural and cross-industry
exploration”, Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 106-23.
Williams, Stephen C., John W. Longworth (1989), “Factors influencing tuna prices in Japan and
implications for the development of the coral sea tuna fishery”, European Journal of Marketing, vol.
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