Culture Impact on International Marketing

This article discusses the impact of culture on international marketing and how it affects various aspects such as branding, communication, buying behavior, and segmentation. It explores the cultural factors that influence international marketing strategies and provides insights into the importance of understanding and adapting to different cultures in order to succeed in global markets.

INTERNATIONAL
MARKETING

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Culture Impact on International Marketing
International marketing has become one of the crucial aspects in the modern day business.
There are several factors that are having impact on the international marketing, culture is one
of the major aspects in this regards. With Globalisation companies have extended boundaries
and are working in different types of cultures (Kasemsap, 2015). Like other strategies,
companies will have to check the cultural aspect before designing the marketing strategy as
well. This is essential for successfully conducting the business the era of globalisation.
International marketing is complex not only because it has the potential to involve
operational and administrative marketing efforts, but also since it includes the aspects like
understanding the marketing environment that is present at the local levels. New cultures
always bring new opportunities and new challenges. For strategy makers, it is crucial to note
that the strategies must be according to the customs, codes and traditions. If not, the chance
of failure increases (Pookulangara & Koesler, 2011). This is because perception, taste, value,
preferences and attitude of the people changes as per the culture and in the purchasing
behaviour, all these factors have a significant role.
Culture and its impact on international marketing practices is an essential part in marketing
research especially related to areas such as branding, communication, buying behaviour,
product selection and most importantly segmentation (Samaha, Beck & Palmatier, 2014). It
also plays a crucial role in the business negotiations. Many companies have failed in the past
as they were unable to differ between the cultures in two different countries. Before actually
doing international marketing companies must analyse the complex variables such as morals,
customs, knowledge, law, and belief. Companies must analyse aspects related to person that
comes with culture such as customs, philosophy, lifestyle and ethics. The framework that can
be beneficial for understanding the impact of culture on international marketing is illustrated
below.

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Fig: Cultural factors that affects international marketing
Education is the first in this and whether being informal or formal, plays a greater role in
shaping the culture. Education has influence on every aspects of culture i.e. from consumer
behaviour to economic development. Companies will have to design their international
marketing on the basis of levels of education prevalent in the society. Social organisation is
another major factor that works in this regards. This is because the way society has organised
itself has a greater role in making the strategies related to segmentation (Cannon, et al. 2010).
This can be understood by the example of Switzerland where most of the people lives on
rental basis with home appliances already installed. This means that banks not the families
are purchasing the home appliances.
Technology plays a crucial role in changing the culture. Instance technology has changed the
ways in which people performs different actions. The way in which people use technology as
a part of their daily life, is used by the companies to market their products. In different parts
of the world, technology is shaping the cultures in a different way. For instance in the
Cultural aspects that
influences IM
Education
Technology Aesthetics
Value and
attitude
Social
Organisation Religion
Politics and Law Cultural consumer
behaviour
Language

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American Society, there is more use of technology and due to this, companies should also
devise their marketing strategy that has more use of technology. In such markets more stress
of the marketing should be on the digital mediums (Talay, Townsend & Yeniyurt, 2015).
Politics and Laws also have the role in shaping the culture as they both have emerged from
the cultural traditions available in market. Political and legal frameworks generally justify the
cultural practices and hence companies must construct their international marketing campaign
so that they do not face legal compliances.
Aesthetics is associated to the attitude of the society towards music, beauty, and great test of
art. Aesthetics are considered specifically by marketers as their role in interpreting the
symbolic meanings of different methods of artistic utilised as a mechanism for feature
reinforcement, differentiation and brand identification. Customs everywhere responds to
myths, images and metaphors which assists them in defining their national and personal
identity along with relationship within a context of product benefit and culture (De Mooij,
2010). This is the major reason why companies should be very careful in using images and
colours in their marketing campaigns. Value and attitude of the people has significant impact
on the international marketing as people perceive the products accordingly. This is the major
factor based on which company shall shape their activities related to communication and
packaging.
Religion is another aspect of culture that shape IM. The sacred believes affect the purchasing
behaviour of people hence companies should market their products accordingly. This is the
major reason why companies are making the promotional campaigns associated with
religious festivals. Religion affects the way they read, eat, prefer clothing etc. Companies
must be very careful in designing their marketing campaign checking that they do not offend
others. Language is another aspect of culture that must be considered by the company as the
language that is used by the company always has a significant role in connecting with the
people in a better manner (Terpstra, Foley & Sarathy, 2012). The better the company can
communicate with the employees, buyers, superiors or colleagues, the better they can make
their IM. Cultural consumer behaviour also has significant role in this as the way in consumer
purchases must be considered by the company in their IM.
4P’s of marketing is also influenced by culture. As seen that people purchases products that
are permissible in the culture. For example Beef is not entertained in Indian Culture hence
company must not market its products that contains beefs. Purchasing behaviour of the

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people in terms of prices also is influenced by the culture. For instance in Western culture,
people are highly attracted towards luxury products hence companies can set the prices on the
higher side. In the Asian market people are choosing products that provide cost benefit hence
the prices must be set on the lower side (Bolton, Keh & Alba, 2010). The selection of the way
in which people like to purchase in that area and according to this only company must bring
their products. Promotions should be specifically designed according to the culture as all the
things that are supported in the culture must be included in the IM.

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REFERENCES
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Operations Management, 28(6), 506-521.
De Mooij, M. (2010). Consumer behavior and culture: Consequences for global marketing
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Kasemsap, K. (2015). The roles of cross-cultural perspectives in global marketing.
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Samaha, S. A., Beck, J. T., & Palmatier, R. W. (2014). The role of culture in international
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Terpstra, V., Foley, J., & Sarathy, R. (2012). International marketing. Naper Press.