Marketing across Cultures Assignment: CW2

This assignment discusses the impact of social and cultural factors on business expansion, cross-cultural analysis, market entry strategies, and the marketing mix. It focuses on Waitrose, a British supermarket, and its expansion into the Indian market.

Marketing across
Cultures Assignment:
CW2

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Cross-cultural analysis................................................................................................................3
Social and Cultural Factors and the Marketing Mix...................................................................6
Market entry strategies................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11
.......................................................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Cross cultural practices and social norm are refers to the most essential determinant of a
community or customer which support in forming up a decision in term of purchasing of a
product or services (Ang and Van Dyne, 2015). This report is based on the determining the
impact of social and cultural factor over the business expansion by considering the Waitrose,
which is a larger British supermarket offers food, grocery, clothing and other items. This project
is the expansion of CW 1 which contains the description about the cultural analysis and different
techniques of it. In this CW 2, there is an implementation of Hofsted culture for determining the
difference between the cultural practices of India and UK along with its implication over market
mic and determination of different entry modes.
MAIN BODY
Cross-cultural analysis
International marketing is refers to the process of performing business activities that are
designed to promote, plan, price and direct the company's flow of product or services to the
consumers that are living in more than one nation for profit. This brings up several growth
opportunity to the businesses as it provide access to larger number of resources, skills,
knowledge and expertise which contribute toward the growth and success of an organisation. But
on the others side the its also brings up several cross-cultural and social issues to the company
which it must address in order to get sustainability at particular market place. Waitrose is a
British supermarket which form up the best Britain food retail division in order to offer variety of
food items across UK and in several other countries (Davidov and et. al., 2018). But as
competition is arising in these countries it become very crucial for Waitrose to take strategic
action in order to maintain its customer base while expanding it to become more competitive as
the competition is arising at a rapid pace within the industry and players are trying to eat one
another's market share. Hence, in order to enhance its profitability as well as market share it must
expand the business into totally a new country i.e. India. But as UK and India both the countries
are different in term of its social and cultural practices which may affect the business operations
and market performance as well. Therefore in order to effectively established the supermarket of
Waitrose in the market of India it is become crucial to firstly study and compare the social and
cultural practices of the two country to determine the difference so that appropriate strategies can

be formulated. Therefore in order to differentiate the culture or social practices of two country
i.e. India and UK, Hofstede cross cultural analysis techniques can be used which work over six
major dimension while taking into account the diversity within culture is usually uncertain. Its
implication on both the factors are mentioned below:
Hofstede's dimensions UK India
Power distance index In UK the power distance
index is relatively lower as
employees usually demand to
work over a place where they
get equal opportunity. Hence
in UK power not remain to the
hand of few people (Davidov
and et. al., 2018).
India score high at power
distance index as people
maintains hierarchy as well as
top down structure within the
society as well as in
organisation. Here the
organisational mainly maintain
the centralised organisational
structure which allows the
higher authority to role over
the employees.
Individualism & Collectivism In UK people within the
society are highly individualist
and belies to be private people
as the children are being taught
from very early age to think
about themselves to determine
the unique purpose of their life
and manner in which they
contribute to society.
Happiness is judged by
individuals from their self
fulfilment.
In India people mainly
maintain both collectivism and
individualism. Among them
collectivism culture is
followed as there is higher
preference is given to the
belongingness to a larger
social framework where
people prefer to work with one
another and in benefit of
collectivism where the opinion
of friends, family, work group
and neighbours are being
consider while taking up

decision. On other side
individualist aspect is followed
due to its dominant religion as
they believe the rebirth id
depend upon how an
individual live his preceding
life as each one is individually
responsible for manner in
which they lead their lives.
Masculinity and femininity UK is a masculine society as it
is highly success oriented and
driven as they maintain a clear
performance ambition
(Dawkins and et. al., 2016).
India score high at masculine
society as people get operates
with the power as well as
success.
Uncertainty Avoidance Index UK is relatively score lower at
the uncertainty avoidance scale
as the people are more
comfortable at ambiguous
situation as term muddling
through fit best to express this.
As the people not maintain too
many rules in the society but
those that are formulate are
required to followed strictly.
India has scored medium low
preference in term of avoiding
uncertainty as in this country
their is acceptance given to the
imperfection as nothing is
required to be perfect nor
required to move as per plan
(De Mooij, 2015). Here
people not feel driven and
comfortable get settle with the
established roles and routines
without querying about it.
Long & short term oriented UK people are mainly long
term oriented as they mainly
belief in modern education.
Therefore, the dominant
It scores high at long term
oriented culture as a dominant
preference with in the Indian
culture cannot be determined.

preference within the British
culture cannot be determined.
Indian have a great tolerance
toward the religious view as
compare to other part of world.
Indulgence versus restraint The British people mainly
follows the culture of
indulgent as people within the
society mainly exhibits a
willingness for determining the
desire and impulses for having
fun as well as enjoying the life.
The people within UK society
maintain a high degree of
importance for spending the
leisure time by spending the
money and time as they want
too.
India scores low at this
dimension as it is a culture of
restraint where people don't
put much efforts over the
leisure time as well as
maintain a control over the
gratification of their desire.
As per the above mentioned description regarding the culture difference within UK and
India it has been found that in order to expand the business activities within India its is required
to understand the cultural and social practices followed within the nation and manner in which it
must be integrated by the Waitrose within its structure and policies while performing work in
India (del Mar Miras‐Rodríguez, Carrasco‐Gallego and Escobar‐Pérez, 2015). This is because
there is a huge difference among both the nation and the cultural belief of each country which
directly affect the choice and purchasing decision of the customers within particular nation.
Social and Cultural Factors and the Marketing Mix
Marketing mix is basically refer to the set of strategies which are being formulated by a
company in order to ensure that the right product may reach to the customer on timely manner
for the adequate growth as well as progress of the company. It contains the combination of
several different factors like product, price, promotion, place, physical evidence, process and
people that are required to be controlled by Waitrose. In order to achieve sustainability at Indian

market as it is a new place and culture which required company to perform more sophisticated
actions so that desired outcome can be achieved. The impact of culture over the product and
consumer behaviour is represented with the help marketing mix while adhering to specific codes
of conduct and norms that India maintain which have a huge impact over the product, price and
other factors. The marketing mix of Waitrose is mentioned below:
Product:- Waitrose is a British supermarket chain which offers its product or services
related with food, cloth and other grocery items. Now in order to expand its business in Indian
market it will expand the operation by offering ethnic wear (Feskens and Hox, 2018). This is
because the people within the country are more cultural driven and prefer to wear ethnic dresses
on their special occasion as it provide them more happiness. Therefore, it would be more fruitful
for the Indian market as ethnic wear range will easily get accepted by the people of India.
Price:- In India people mainly prefer to purchase the product or services that are
affordable, therefore Waitrose must offer its ethnic wear to the people at affordable or average
price. This is because the majority of population in India belong to middle class family and
people of India maintain a culture of restraint where they do not believe on spending a leisure
life. Hence they mainly do not prefer to spend much over the higher priced product when
substitutes are available in market.
Promotions:- India is a developing country where majority of population lives in the
rural area therefore such people mainly prefer to use television as a main source for gathering
information. On the other side the people live in urban area are highly active over the social
media sites. Hence the Waitrose must focuses toward using promotional channels like television
broadcast as well as social media marketing which support it in capturing the larger market base
for spreading the information. Use of multimedia is suggested to Waitrose as people in India are
more collectivism as they take decision after discussion it with reference group and close ones.
Therefore by spreading more information it become easier to attract larger number of customers
toward the company' product.
Place:- In India people mainly prefer to purchase product or services from the physical
stores so Waitroes must focuses toward setting up its stores to offer ethnic wear. This in turn
support in attracting people to the store which support in increasing the sales of the company
(Marsh, 2016). This is because people in India follows a culture of collectivism where they
prefer to perform shopping in group, hence by setting up the physical store it become easier to

influence the consumer behaviour toward purchasing of product in favourable manner as face to
face interaction provide more opportunity to influence and satisfy the customers. Despite of this
youngsters of India are more active over social media sites so Waitrose can also target customers
through digital medium by selling its product or services using social networking sites.
Process:- In order to cater the need of different consumer group with different need or
preference, Waitrose will follow a digitalisation as well as physical selling procedure (Ordóñez
and et. al., 2017). In which the customers of Waitrose can access the webpage of company by
creating their account in order to select the product of their choice while considering all the
required information related with the product and then place the order for getting home delivery
of the products or services. Despite of this, the physical store will be set up where customers can
visit in order to choose or try the product as per their choice.
People:- For hiring the employees of India and keeping it retain within the marketplace it
is crucial for Waitrose to follow a centralised structure as majority of organisation in India prefer
to follow a power distance culture in order to manage the operations in effective manner by
guiding employees over the direction of work. In addition to this it will also support the Waitrose
to easily setup the business as employees belong to India find it difficult to manage the
operations as per the strategies of company due to new cultural practices. Hence by centralising
their operation it become easier to manage them and integrating both the culture to extract out
best practices.
Physical evidence:- The brick and mortar stores of Waitrose will proves to as a physical
evidence for the company where the ethical wear are directly available to the customer. In
physical stores merchandise will be well organised and dummy will highlight the dress design.
Hence by attracting the customer by the design and by offering an ease of access to product or
services it become easier draw the attention of customers and getting sustainability at
marketplace.
Market entry strategies
Business organisations mainly expand their operations with an aim to achieve higher
growth and to enter into new market for growth it adopt different market entry strategies which
support them in positioning their business practices in effective manner at minimal risk. The
mainly preferred market entries are franchising, joint venture, direct exporting, strategic
alliances, licensing etc. The Waityrose is planning to expand its business operation In India by

brining the ethnic wear, which make it crucial for the company to adopt right market strategy in
order to implement the business operations in effective manner. Some of the most commonly
adopted business strategy are mentioned below:
Strategic Alliance:- This is basically refers to as a strategy where two or more
companies get bind into an legal agreement of partnership in order to work over a common
objective or for a particular period of time (Soldatenko and Backer, 2019).. In order to adopt this
strategy, Waitrose is required to form up a strategic alliance with an organisation which is
already exist in the marker of India with an aim to get a share over the resources, market share
and human resources. This will support waitrose in getting adequate resources, guidance as well
as knowledge which it required in order to set up the business in Indian market in effective
manner. The main advantage of this strategy is that waitrose become able to get a clear
understanding regarding the actual culture and customer taste or preference which support it in
achieving the competitive edge at marketplace. But it also hold up a drawback that it involves
lack of secrecy as the secrets of the company may get be stolen by another alliance partner.
Joint venture:- It is a kind of contract between the two or more organisation in order to
form up a totally new entity. In the context of Waitrose, the joint venture strategy is suitable for
the company as at initial stage the business can be set up or sustain with the help of existing
company which support in getting up a larger market share gradually by integrating the
knowledge, skills and resources of both the countries. This in turn help in brining innovation
practices which support in performing operations in efficient manner. The main benefit of
adopting this strategy is that the profit and loss will be shared which help in reducing the risk as
well as burden of the company. But on the other side the drawback of this strategy is that there
may be a coalition of the objective among different companies which leads to the inefficiency in
term of working of a new venture. This may also create conflict among the employees which in
turn affect the performance and productivity of the company.
Direct exporting:- It is basically defined as the selling of product or services within
another country by making use of own resources. Under direct exporting strategy the main aim
of the business is to perform their sales program in the foreign market with the support of
distributors as well as sales agent as well as distributor that are available at the that particular
marketplace. In order to adopt this strategy for entering into the market of India, waitrose is
required to hire suitable agents within India who will sale the ethnic wear on behalf of the

company. This will be advantageous for the company as it support in increasing the sales
performance of the company which will be a greater income source as well. But on the other side
the disadvantage of adopting this strategy is that selected agents for selling the product in the
market may cheat over the company. This may negatively influence the brand image within new
country as well as also within the nation where it maintain its existence.
Franchising:- As compare to other entry mode, franchising is consider to be the best
strategy for the Waitrose this is because it is a process within which an organisation provide the
right to the another person belong to different geographical location to make use of organisations
management style, product or services as well as the name of the company for offering the
commodity to market (Feskens and Hox, 2018). The main benefit of implementing this strategy
is that the profitability level of the company get increased more speedy as compare to other
methods as the brand image will work best asset for success of this strategy to Waitrose. On the
other side the drawback of this strategy is that higher initial investment for providing training
and setting up the branches. In addition to this it also require formalities and legal paper work
which is time consuming process.
Hence, as per the above mentioned strategies it has been analysed that the Franchising is
best suitable strategy for Waitrose that it required to be adopt for expanding business in India for
offering ethnic wear. This has been assumed that Indian market is good for ethical dresses which
plays a crucial role in enhancing the goodwill as well as brand image of Waitrose. In addition to
this the level of control is relatively higher in this strategy as it deals with customer directly.
Despite of this the level of risk is also lower for Waitrose as the responsibility of particular brand
is wholly depend over the franchisor and it perform effectively as it uses the capability and
managing style of the company as well which ensures greater success.
CONCLUSION
From the above performed study it has been identified that the business expansion is
consider to be a most favourable approach for a business which help in increasing the
profitability as well performance of the company. This is because the business expansion help in
getting excess to advancement of resources and knowledge. In addition to this the Hofstede
culture model is an essential technique which support businesses in determining the culture of a
country in which it want to expand the business so that appropriate actions can be undertaken.

REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Ang, S. and Van Dyne, L., 2015. Handbook of cultural intelligence. Routledge.
Davidov, E., and et. al., 2018. Cross-cultural analysis: Methods and applications. Routledge.
Davidov, E., and et. al., 2018. Cross-cultural analysis: Methods and applications. Routledge.
Dawkins, C. E., and et. al., 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., and et. al., 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.