(PDF) Marketing Across Cultures

Marketing Across
Cultures CW1

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TOPIC: “Cross-Cultural Analysis – are traditional techniques such as Hofstede, Wills et al, Hall
and Hall, Trompenaars still relevant in the 21st Century?”.............................................................3
TASK 1 Critical evaluation....................................................................................................3
TASK 2 Comparison..............................................................................................................5
TASK 3 Relevance and conclusions......................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Cross culture can be referred to as the business environment which facilitates interaction
of people belonging to various nations and having diverse set of ideologies, views, opinions and
practices. This can be applied in corporate context by looking upon the initiatives undertaken by
an organisation to determine the differences lying between the host and foreign country. While
understanding this in business context, it is seen as the efforts of a company so that they can
easily communicate with one another professionally with different cultural background. To
facilitate this, businesses require extensive training and employee support through which they
can easily expand into a new country. The present project (Course Work 1) is focussed upon
literature review conducted to gain knowledge of the different frameworks pertaining to cross
cultural analysis(Ordóñez and et.al 2019).
TOPIC: “Cross-Cultural Analysis – are traditional techniques such as Hofstede, Wills et al,
Hall and Hall, Trompenaars still relevant in the 21st Century?”
TASK 1 Critical evaluation
Cross cultural analysis is essential to be conducted by all the business organisations who
intend to expand their business in new countries by marketing over cultures. In this regard, it can
be analysed that there are a number of cross cultural analysis models that are taken into
consideration before gaining access into a foreign nation. Specialists who have expertise within
the area of business as well as management have developed a number of detailed literatures on
cultural theories and models. Such theories are scattered and only some of these are actually
applied to global corporate context(Marsh, 2016). These models tend to serve as fundamental as
well as stepping stone to gaining comprehensibility of the culture of a nation in relation to global
business and management. Some of these models are reviewed as well as analysed underneath.
Also, their perspectives along with approach towards the issue of culture and marketing are
presented as follows:-
Hofstede Cultural Model: The psychologist Dr Geert Hofstede devised this cultural
dimensions model on the basis of conduction of research for around a decade(Feskens and Hox,
2018). Since that time, this framework became a globally renowned standard for gaining in depth
comprehensibility of cultural differences lying between 2 or more nations. This model was
devised by the respective psychologist post the comprehensive study of people who operated as a

part of IBM across a total of 50 nations. In the start, he determined 4 dimensions on the basis of
which one national culture could be differentiated from another. However, it was later that two
more dimensions were added to the series in addition to the 4 dimensions by cooperating with
Drs Michael H. Bond and Michael Minkov. These dimensions tend to define how the people,
culture and business practices of one nation differ from other. To give it a better clarity,
Hofstede, Bond and Minkov gave scores to each nation on a scale of 0 to 100 for each
dimension. By gaining knowledge of these dimensions for a country, a business entity can
successfully apply it to resolve the issues of cultural differences. Also, this provides aid in
carrying out marketing within the confines of a country by adhering to the culture, views and
perceptions held by people of that country(Mar Miras‐Rodrígue and et.al 2015).
Hall's Iceberg Concept of Culture: This model was devised by Edward Twitchell Hall
when he observed that a number of issues arose as a result of ineffective intercultural
communication. With this, the psychologist believed that the differences between participants
coming from diverse set of cultures were responsible for miscommunication. The icerberg model
describes culture to be a composite of 2 diverse parts. These are: parts visible over the surface
such as manner of carrying living, law, custom etc. and secondly, the components that are not
visible at first such as specific values, norms or attitudes( Mooij, 2015). The basic perception
held within this model is that the only manner in which an individual can learn the internal
culture of others is to take active participation in their culture. It is only through this that a person
or a business can gain comprehensibility of the underlying values, customs, beliefs and
ideologies of the new culture. The same perception is applied to corporate context that an entity
can gain knowledge about another country's culture is by gaining access into it and conducting
marketing operations there in an effective manner(Vijver,Van Hemert and Poortinga, 2015).
Trompenaars Cross Cultural Analysis: Companies all across the globe are working with
a number of culture whereby the basic perception is to conduct marketing activities after gaining
knowledge of its 7 elements, Universalism versus Particularism, Individualism versus
Communitarianism, Neutral versus Emotional, Specific versus Diffuse, Achievement versus
Ascription, Sequential versus Synchronous time and Internal direction versus External
direction(Dawkins and et.al, 2016). The perception held within this model is to gain knowledge
of the cultural differences underlying between host and foreign country to come up with effective
marketing practices that can enhance a company's reach in market place.

TASK 2 Comparison
The 3 approaches to Cross Cultural Analysis, namely, Hofstede Cultural Model, Hall's
Iceberg Concept of Culture and Trompenaars Cross Cultural Analysis are discussed above. All
of the models have certain elements or factors pertaining to them which provide assistance to an
individual or business to get some idea of the culture of foreign country. Hofstede Cultural
Dimensions Model consists of 7 factors namely Power Distance Index (high versus low),
Individualism Versus Collectivism, Masculinity Versus Femininity, Uncertainty Avoidance
Index (high versus low), Long Versus Short Term Orientation and Indulgence Versus Restraint.
The factors which constitute Trompenaars Cross Cultural Analysis are Universalism versus
Particularism, Individualism versus Communitarianism, Neutral versus Emotional, Specific
versus Diffuse, Achievement versus Ascription, Sequential versus Synchronous time and Internal
direction versus External direction(Davidov and et.al 2018). Lastly, Hall's Iceberg Concept of
Culture comprise the visibly seen part and the elements that are not noticed in the first time.
Thus, the basic differences lies in the elements of all the 3 models which focus upon different
things. The first model focuses upon gaining knowledge of the approach which the citizens of a
country have towards corporate as well as personal life. Besides this, the second model is
focussed more upon the emotional and mental state of individuals belonging to foreign country.
Lastly, Trompenaars Cross Cultural Analysis tends to provide an overview of the culture of a
country by providing knowledge of the apparent and the invisible parts pertaining to the
culture(Maignan, 2001).
TASK 3 Relevance and conclusions
Cross cultural analysis is an important as well as relevant concept that needs to be applied
by business corporations with a view to gain knowledge of the various aspects pertaining to a
nation. In today's modern era, the world is leading towards becoming a one “big village” by
making use of the smart technological advancements. Owing to the extensive rivalry prevailing
within the confines of the globe, a large number of business owners as well as operators have
realised the requirement to carry out business across the national confines by making use of
effective marketing practices(Davidov and et.al, 2018). Hereby, the major task that needs to be
performed by a nation is to gain knowledge about the various aspects of a country's culture and
then devising and deciding upon the marketing and market entry strategies to gain access into a
foreign location. Although the world is leading towards becoming globalized, there is yet to

emerge a “global” culture or in other words, a common business culture. Everyone knows that
the culture of a nation significantly impacts upon the way in which business carries out its
operations. Also it influences the way in which an organisation makes profits, relations,
management strategic course of action, communication, marketing, consumer behavioural
conduct, advertising, global investment and commerce etc. In this regard, in the 21st century, the
traditional models such as Hofstede, Wills et al, Hall and Hall, Trompenaars still seem to be
relevant because they tend to provide an overall overview of the cultural aspects of a country.
Although there is a scope to make use of more recently devised cultural models, the traditional
CCA techniques still seek to solve the purpose of a company to design and devise effective
marketing strategies for gaining access into a foreign country, based upon this. From the above
observations, it can be argued that in order to survive or succeed in this globalised, competitive
international environment, multinationals and international business managers need to have a
practical and sound understanding of cross– border cultures by critically applying CCA
techniques into practicality. The inability to be culturally sensitive and culturally competent may
lead to business failure and avoidable wastage of funds. Thus, it is recommended that entities
should make sound use of CCA techniques in 21st century which has become hyper competitive
(Ang and Van Dyne, 2015).

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Ang, S. and Van Dyne, L., 2015. Handbook of cultural intelligence. Routledge.
Davidov, E., Schmidt, P., Billiet, J. and Meuleman, B., 2018. Cross-cultural analysis: Methods
and applications. Routledge.
Davidov, E., Schmidt, P., Billiet, J. and Meuleman, B., 2018. Cross-cultural analysis: Methods
and applications. Routledge.
Dawkins, C.E., Jamali, D., Karam, C., Lin, L. and Zhao, J., 2016. Corporate social responsibility
and job choice intentions: A cross-cultural analysis. Business & Society, 55(6), pp.854-
888.
De Mooij, M., 2015. Cross-cultural research in international marketing: clearing up some of the
confusion. International Marketing Review, 32(6), pp.646-662.
del Mar Miras‐Rodríguez, M., Carrasco‐Gallego, A. and Escobar‐Pérez, B., 2015. Are socially
responsible behaviors paid off equally? A Cross‐cultural analysis. Corporate Social
Responsibility and Environmental Management, 22(4), pp.237-256.
Feskens, R. and Hox, J.J., 2018. Multilevel Structural Equation Modeling for Cross-Cultural
Research. Cross-Cultural Analysis: Methods and Applications, p.347.
Marsh, H.W., 2016. Cross-cultural generalizability of year in school effects: Negative effects of
acceleration and positive effects of retention on academic self-concept. Journal of
Educational Psychology, 108(2), p.256.
Ordóñez, C., Beckley, T., Duinker, P.N. and Sinclair, A.J., 2017. Public values associated with
urban forests: Synthesis of findings and lessons learned from emerging methods and
cross-cultural case studies. Urban forestry & urban greening, 25, pp.74-84.
Soldatenko, D. and Backer, E., 2019. A content analysis of cross-cultural motivational studies in
tourism relating to nationalities. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 38,
pp.122-139.
Van de Vijver, F.J., Van Hemert, D.A. and Poortinga, Y.H., 2015. Multilevel analysis of
individuals and cultures. Psychology Press.
Maignan, I., 2001. Consumers' perceptions of corporate social responsibilities: A cross-cultural
comparison. Journal of business ethics, 30(1), pp.57-72.