Selected Industry and Business Operating Internationally

In this task I will explain how electronic industry or business operating internationally is affected by cultural differences. I will provide a clear and substantial explanation of how the electronic industry or business operating internationally is affected by cultural differences. I will use a range of relevant examples will support the explanation, demonstrating extensive research.

Culture is a set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution, organization or group.

Components of culture
The components of culture are: the attitudes, beliefs, customs, traditions, art, clothing, food, language, accents and achievements of society that are passed on to each generation.

The impact of culture on marketing strategy

Electronic businesses need to take into account the culture of they are setting up their business in. Culture varies in different countries which is the reason businesses need to understand the effect it has on their customers. If a product / service do not fit in with the culture of the country, the business will not manage to make any sales and profit out of it.

There are eight different culture categories which are:

Language
Religion
Values and Attitudes
Aesthetics
Law and Politics
Technology and Material culture
Social organization
Education

Language

In a low context culture spoken language carries the emphasis of the communication i.e. what is said is what is meant. Examples include Australia and the Netherlands. In a high context culture verbal communications tend not to carry a direct message i.e. what is said may not be what is meant. So with a high context culture hidden cultural meaning needs to be considered, as does body language. Examples of a high context cultures include Japan and some Arabic nations. Another example is Sony, as I have shown in the print screen below, Sony use a variety of different languages for their online promotion in order for different language speaking customers to use their online website with ease.

http://www.sony.es/section/home

Religion

A business needs to make sure that their products and services are not offensive, unlawful or distasteful to the local nation. This includes marketing promotion and branding.

For example:
In China in 2007 (which was the year of the pig) all advertising which included pictures of pigs was banned. This was to maintain harmony with the country’s Muslim population of around 2%. The ban included pictures of sausages that contained pork, and even advertising that included an animated (cartoon) pig. In 2005 France’s Catholic Church won a court injunction to ban a clothing advertisement (by clothing designers Marithe and Francois Girbaud) based upon Leonardo da Vinci’s Christ’s Last Supper. Values and attitudes

If a business is planning to take a product or service overseas make sure that they have a good grasp the locality before they enter the market. This could mean altering promotional material or subtle branding messages. There may also be an issue when managing local employees. For example, in France workers tend to take vacations for the whole of August, whilst in the United States employees may only take a couple of week’s vacation in an entire year. For example:

In 2004, China banned a Nike television commercial showing U.S. basketball star LeBron James in a battle with animated cartoon kung fu masters and two dragons, because it was argued that the ad insults Chinese national dignity. Aesthetics

Aesthetics relate to your senses, and the appreciation of the artistic nature of something, including its smell, taste or ambience

Law and politics

The political ideology on which the society is based will impact upon your decision to market there. For example, the United Kingdom has a largely market-driven, democratic society with laws based upon precedent and legislation, whilst Iran has a political and legal system based upon the teachings and principles Islam and a Sharia tradition.

Social organization

This aspect of Terpstra and Sarathy’s Cultural Framework relates to how a national society is organized. For example, what is the role of women in a society? How is the country governed – centralized or devolved? The level influence of class or casts upon a society needs to be considered. For example, India has an established caste system – and many Western countries still have an embedded class system. So social mobility could be restricted where caste and class systems are in place. Whether or not there are strong trade unions will impact upon management decisions if you employ local workers.

Education
The level and nature of education in each international market will vary. This may impact the type of message or even the medium that you employ. For example, in countries with low literacy levels, advertisers would avoid communications which depended upon written copy, and would favour radio advertising with an audio message or visual media such as billboards. The labelling of products may also be an issue. http://www.marketingteacher.com/lesson-store/lesson-international-marketing-culture.html

8 components of Terpstra / Sarathy model of culture in marketing

-Blah blah blah business has created this products to suit the religion / culture

What is telervisation with examples

Education:

MEDC – well educated people tend to do the design factor in consumer electronics LEDCS – assembly of consumer electronic