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Chapter 4 – Cultural Dynamics in Assessing Global Markets
Teaching Objectives
Culture in this text is defined in an anthropological sense in that culture refers to the entire social heritage
of a group of people. Thus, culture includes a country’s economy, society, behavior, etc. It is imperative
for international marketers to learn to appreciate the intricacies of cultures different from their own. A
vast majority of the mistakes make by international businesses can be attributed to a lack of
understanding some aspect of the culture of a country. The teaching objectives of this chapter are to:
1) Set the tone for the entire course, which is the importance of culture to an international marketer.
2) Create a strong sensitivity in students to the cultural differences that exist among countries and
the effect of cultural elements on the total fabric of doing business in another country.
3) Re-emphasize the idea of the Self-Reference Criterion (SRC) and its influence on doing business
in another culture. The insidious nature of the SRC – that is, you are often unaware of how your
SRC is affecting your reaction to an event, your evaluation of a market opportunity or the
evaluation of a situation or event, etc. – is especially important to stress in this chapter and
throughout the course. Many marketing mistakes and misfires can be explained by someone’s
SRC interfering with a proper interpretation of a marketing action. Because cultures are different,
often what is obvious and important in your home culture is not so obvious and important in
another or vice versa.
4) Explore the strategy of planned change. By understanding how cultures change, companies can
overcome resistance to change and accelerate rates of acceptance. This idea is more fully
developed in Chapter 12 but the concept can be introduced here.
5) Stress that in many cultures, an international marketer is a change agent in that their activities
cause cultural change. Sometimes the consequences of change can be very beneficial but in other
cases, change can be harmful – the marketer has the responsibility to guard against causing
harmful change.
Comments and Suggestions
1. There are several ways to achieve the teaching objectives of this chapter. If you like case there are
several that will serve as a basis for illustrating the important points of the chapter. By asking students
to identify the cultural aspects of Case 2–1 The Not So Wonderful World of EuroDisney (in a broader
scope, this case can also be used in conjunction with Chapter 8) various cultural differences between
Disney in the U.S. and EuroDisney can be explored.
2. We often begin a lecture on culture by reading the quote in the section on “Cultural Borrowing.”
(“. . . begins breakfast with an orange from the eastern Mediterranean . . .”) and using it to help
illustrate several aspects of cultures, for example, that cultures borrow, that they change, but that they
also resist change and that once they accept a “new way” it is their own regardless of how they
acquired the new way. This idea is important to stress since it will be important later in the course
when the students are exposed to the idea of products being innovations to which there may be
cultural resistance to acceptance.
3. We think it is important to discuss briefly the various elements of culture to set the stage for the next
several chapters which explore some of the elements in depth. Using transparency, Elements of
Culture, as a visual guide, we briefly comment on each, giving appropriate examples. Case 1-2,
Nestle – The Infant Formula Incident, is a good case to discuss since many will have heard of the case
and it can be used to illustrate several aspects of culture discussed in the chapter. It also serves as a
good example of a marketer causing harmful cultural change. A key question to explore is how Nestle
could have avoided the problems in the case and still marketed their product.
Lecture Outline
I. Global Perspective: Equities and eBay—Culture Gets in the Way
II. Culture’s Pervasive Impact
III. Definitions and Origins of Culture
A. Geography
B. History
C. The Political Economy
D. Technology
E. Social Institutions
IV. Elements of Culture
A. Cultural Values
B. Rituals
C. Symbols
D. Beliefs
E. Thought Processes
V. Cultural Knowledge
A. Factual versus Interpretive Knowledge
B. Cultural Sensitivity and Tolerance
VI. Cultural Change
A. Cultural Borrowing
B. Similarities: An Illusion
C. Resistance to Change
D. Planned and Unplanned Cultural Change
E. Consequences of Innovation
VII. Summary
