Culture and Expectations: Building Customers

Culture is one of the concept that occur from many different factors also most of authors from many different fields are examine culture and cultural factors for making analysis of human characteristics. I am going to analyse cultural factors deeply for understanding international marketing better. Also I will focus on how Cultural factors affects to marketing policies and I will try to explain each factors with some relevant examples. Cultural differences how can affect social expenditures at abroad and how can international marketers market their goods and services at abroad perfectly

Culture plays a vital role in expectations building of customers and helps in determining the alleged way of customers regarding service delivery (Tansik and Chase 1988, cited by Mattila 1999, p.02)

It is very hard to defined culture but simply culture shows all people of one nation or societies Identities. Everybody in those societies is give similar reactions for similar situations. Also different group of society gives different reaction for the same situation. If I want to explain culture in one sentence that culture is similarities of differentiations. People who live in America can laugh to Japanese people because of their life style or Japanese people can think the same think for Americans and may be they can say how crazy they are because of their cultures or life styles. For example American people like big, smart, fast and comfortable cars but Japanese people do not drive such noisy, fast, big and bombastic cars

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Culture is so important for marketers and especially for international marketers. The way for success at international marketing goes from culture. Good marketers try to understand people who live at their target market and after they introduce their goods and services with the reasonable best methods. Otherwise no body expect from Japanese marketers to sell their cars to American people with successfully. I am saying successfully because those little people did it. They are one of the best car sellers in the world with their own brand. That brand name is Toyota. Maybe 50 years ago any one from America thought to use Japanese cars or even they could not think if Japans can manufacture cars. I am going to give detailed information about Toyota and their marketing strategies at the next part of my assignment but before I want to focus on Culture and factors of cultures for understanding differentiations among the nations. I believe that work will be very useful for new international marketers

International Marketing

Marketing the goods and services to other nations named as international marketing. World is globalising and competition among the firms are growing. Most of companies which win this competition are becoming Global Firms and they are serving everywhere in the earth and those companies are marketing their goods and services like in their home country. What are the difficulties of international marketing? I will try to answer this question in this section of my assignment. According to Usiner (1996) the main difficulty of international marketing must be Cultural differences. If Usiner and other authors are right at their this view I should looked what kind of elements are shapes humans life

Elements of Culture

• Language
• Religion
• Values and Attitudes
• Manners and Customs
• Material Elements
• Aesthetics
• Education
• Social Institutions

Language:

Language is the key element for entering the new market or selling new products in the target markets because it is very important to introduce the goods and services at in a foreign country. Language not only meaning a verbal language for an international marketer also language contains everything about those people who using it. Toyota is a Japanese brand but in the earth everybody knows Toyota is the biggest Automotive Brand and people from Africa to America trust this name. Mainly Japanese people speak Japanese but wherever if Toyota manufacture or market their products, They start to communicate with those people, We are understanding this from Toyota`s corona models history at America. Toyota corona was totally responding American society`s requirements.

Religion:

Religions are affects humans life styles and their culture. Religion can be used as a gun for marketers but I do not recommend it. A good marketer should respect religions if they want to be successful and also they should be careful about using harmful or racist approaches for religions and their followers at every time. When I looked at the graphics below it can be helpful to understand importance of respect religions at all time.

• Christianity: 2.1 billion
• Islam: 1.5 billion
• Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist:1.1 Million
• Hinduism: 900 million
• Chinese traditional religion: 394 million
• Buddhism: 376 million

May be it can be hard to understand importance of marketing strategies according to member of religions but when we looked at food and beverage sector it going to be easy to realize. Moslem nations do not purchase haram (forbidden by Islam) foods and beverages, Hindu nations generally become vegetarian because of their religion. Such a important differences have have to be considered by international marketers. Also I can imagine If Toyota made any advertisements which may annoy one of the members of religion; those people would definitely protest the Toyota forever.

Values and Attitudes

Values are the basic notion/convictions of what is right and wrong and values are fairly stable over time. Notional disagreement is a gap between two values or among values and behaviors. Attitudes are feelings and tempers that affect behavior and may change frequently.

According to definition values and attitudes are just a concept and those are about personal feelings and treatments. And generally people meet under the similar feelings and treatments. Because of this meeting Values and attitudes are very important at shaping the cultural differences among the nations. The most difficult thing in the earth might be changing ideas. No one can accept cross ideas easily. Because of this situation international marketers have to debate values and attitudes while they are marketing their products and services at abroad. According to Toyota Production System (TPS): the lean management: the key managerial values and attitudes needed to sustain continuous improvement in the long run. The core management principles are articulated around the twin pillars of Continuous Improvement and Respect for People.

Manners and Customs:

The biggest differentiation of manners from religions that Manners are formed by people but religions ruled by God. Manners can change by the time but both religions and manners ask people to be good. Manners are accepted by one group of people. If in that group somebody does not follow the rules of manners others can think about him or her bad thinks but nobody judge them.

Customs are only treatments that become habitats with repeating actions by the time. Customs can be good customs or bad customs but manners always ask for to be good. Manners and customs are used together because these words are shapes culture of small nations and big countries

Material Elements:

When you analyze a country’s material culture you need to look at two things: (1) its level of technological ability and (2) its economics, or how people use their abilities and the benefits achieved. http://www.suite101.com/lesson.cfm/16618/106/5

Material elements are about if the target country is using enough technology or not. Because power of technology gives people some extra abilities and this abilities helps to change life styles. International marketers have to understand their target markets` technological superiorities because this power can affect marketing strategies.

Aesthetics:

Aesthetics is a combination of feeling about beauty. But beauty is not the same for everybody. Aesthetics is generalisation of beauty. For example looking, smelling, tasting, touching and feeling are sensible with sense organs. And sense organs give good or bad reactions according to feelings and aesthetics occur with those good feelings. If Group of people feel good things and give similar reaction for the same situations that affects those people`s cultures at the end. Importance of aesthetics for marketers, they have to market their goods and services to their target markets according to those nations’ beauty and aesthetics comprehensions

Education:

“The aim of education should be to teach us rather how to think, than what to think-rather to improve our minds, so as to enable us to think for ourselves, than to load the memory with the thoughts of other men.” Bill Beattie http://www.teachersmind.com/education.htm

Education is very important for international marketer. Because advertisement and such informative works for success in the business are have to prepare according to education level of target markets. People have to understand easily what we are serving or who we are with simple words or figures. At the low educational level countries visual advertisements must prefer rather than destined advertisements

Social Institutions:

“A complex of positions, roles, norms and values lodged in particular types of social structures and organizing relatively stable patterns of human activity with respect to fundamental problems in producing life-sustaining resources, in reproducing individuals, and in sustaining viable societal structures within a given environment.” (Turner 1997: 6)

Social intuitions are has some structural differences from country to country for example, education systems do not have to be the same at every country or police and military can have different roles for make lives easier. Professional International marketers can easily aware of differentiations among the nations and so they can have advantages on marketing their goods and services at abroad.

Part B

Introduction

At the second part of this assignment I am going to analyze Cateora and Ghauri`s statement about importance of experience at marketing. Why experienced marketers can be more successful then inexperienced marketers on marketing their goods or services? Cateora and Ghauri believe that most of inexperienced marketers fall in mistakes at aspect of cultures.

I have already survey elements of culture at first part of this assignment Language, Religion, Values and Attitudes, Manners and Customs, Material Elements, Aesthetics, Education and Social Institutions are all defined at Part A. These elements are the central core part of cultures and culture are shaped by those elements. Every nation has their own cultural aspects but international marketer have to look those aspects very carefully. Sometimes those cultural elements can seen similar at different nations and because of those similarities international marketers can fail at those failure. Author is describing that failure as illusion. If I give an example, language: Language is a subject with language people can communicate but it does not mean learning foreign languages for understanding people better. Communication mean is not only talking and making agreements for international marketers also a good international marketer should understand him or her target market correctly. For example English is a Language Americans, Australians, British and many other nations speak English and most of international agreements made in English language. But many time Americans get difficulties to understand British. Similar situations occur at some Turkish speaker countries as well. For example Turkey Turks many times have understanding difficulties to Azeri or Cyprus Turks` speaking languages in fact all Turks speak Turkish Languages. Experience is jump to business in this kind of cases and those people short the understanding problems easily because they know from their experience that when Cyprus Turk says “are you complete” Experienced people who know Cyprus culture understand what is the meaning of are you complete and says I am fine thank you. But inexperienced people about Cyprus culture only struggle with the meanings of the words

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Today Toyota is one of the biggest worldwide company and Toyota marketers are marketing their product all over the world as they learn from Edward Demings at the end of World War 2. Yes you heard the real American name in Japan. Edward Demings was one of the most important managers of Toyota. He introduce to America to Toyota cars as better cars then original American cars. He was an American and he was knowing very well what Americans like or hate. And he had checked detailed at American market for improve Toyota`s specialties. This principle of learning very well of the target markets` demand and needs always became Toyota`s business strategy and so after all this studied Toyota call this studies as kaizen or continuous development all the world accepted Toyota as a world brand. Toyota always tries to learn and improve them from production to marketing process at everywhere.

Conclusion

From part A I have analyze culture and elements of culture for international marketing and I saw that differences growths competitions among nations or marketers. Today our world is globalizing and cultural differences are become determinant factors at business life. Language, Religion, Values and Attitudes, Manners and Customs, Material Elements, Aesthetics, Education and Social Institutions are some of most relevant factors in the earth and those elements shapes culture. International marketers should be careful when they are preparing marketing policies for different cultures

From part B I have analyze importance of experience factor at marketing. Cultural factors very important at marketing and marketers should analyze cultural differences perfectly but how much if a marketer from different culture think he or she knows everything about his or her target market, he or she can fail at very simple mistakes. But to be experienced is always gives better change to be successful at marketing. Also I have learnt in the second part about key man of Toyota who made Toyota a world brand. Every marketer should respect that man and at least have to read his business strategies if they want to gain experiences quick