Critical Evaluation of Cultural Values in International Marketing

This essay critically evaluates the importance of national cultural values in international marketing from both consumer and marketer perspectives, underpinned by relevant theoretical support. It discusses how understanding cultural values is crucial for marketers to effectively communicate and meet customer demands in a globalized digital world. The essay highlights the benefits for marketers in expanding their services and building strong customer relations by adapting to different cultural backgrounds. It also mentions Hofstede's cultural dimension theory as a framework for cross-cultural communication. The discussion further elaborates on how cultural values influence economic development, build trust, and shape marketing strategies, ultimately leading to improved organizational success and customer satisfaction. Concluding that cultural values play a key role in shaping interactions and brand image, emphasizing the need for marketers to understand customer beliefs to deliver services that meet their demands and expectations.

Consumer Behavior in Global and digital
world

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Discussion..................................................................................................................................2
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................3
References..................................................................................................................................4

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Introduction
Rapid adoption of digital technology has impacted industries globally. Thus, it is very
important to understand cultural values for both customers and marketers. Companies face
various challenges in the competitive world due to cultural difference or emergence of
technology. Thus, to overcome all the barriers and have effective communication marketers
should understand the beliefs of customers so that they can supply the services as per their
demand. In this a discussion is carried upon the role of national cultural values in the
international marketing. The hofstede cultural theory has also been discussed by linking with
the perception of customers and marketers.
Discussion
The role of national cultural values is important in international marketing for both
consumers and marketers. It proves to be beneficial for marketers as different individual as
different perception which helps in bringing up new innovative ideas in the market. To have
an effective marketing it is necessary to adapt to all the cultural values so that problems and
conflicts could be resolved and success of an organisation is improved. Marketing managers
can also expand their services in global market by understanding different cultural
background (Petersen, Kushwaha & Kumar, 2015). Every organisation can gain its name
image in the international market by building strong relations with the customers and this is
possible by capturing the cultural values.
One such theory that can be used is hofstede cultural dimension theory it is a framework that
is used for cross cultural communication as it helps in finding the importance of value and
how cultural changes relate to the behaviour. It relates to some of the factors that define the
role of cultural values in the international market. Such cultural values are power distance,
strength of social hierarchy and ways of communication. The role of national cultural values
will help marketer to expand their business (Eajournals, 2016). Thus, cultural values play an
important role in the economic development of country. It builds up national level trust
among customers and companies. It helps the marketers to determine the demand of
customers by understanding their beliefs and behaviour. On the other hand, it is beneficial
for the customers as they get an opportunity to know the views and perception of different
people (Samaha, Beck & Palmatier, 2014). It is true that in today’s era, workforces are

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becoming more and more unlike and are distributed globally. Thus, in order to attract,
motivate and retain the customers in the international market it is necessary to pay attention
to cultural differences that exist among the employees’ (Beck, Chapman & Palmatier, 2015).
There are many difficulties that are faced in an international market but despite the
difficulties cultural values will help to lead diverse workforces. These national cultural values
will help marketers to represent their customs in other country. Understanding the values will
help customers to find out the competitors in the international market and ways through
which they can be satisfied. It is better to understand the beliefs of different nations so that
smooth functioning of operations goes on (Beck, Chapman & Palmatier, 2015). For example,
a correlation was created by sigma two groups. This group analysed the relation between
countries on the behalf of their predominant culture. The catholic countries have high
uncertainty avoidance have relatively high power distance and low individualism where as in
other atheist countries it is opposite (Mazanec, Crotts, Gursoy & Lu, 2015). Thus, it is
important to understand the national values so that companies can co-relate easily.
Understanding the importance of culture will reduce the chances of conflicts and will
increases chances of social contract (Gopalakrishnan & Zhang, 2017). The role of culture is
to understand the perception of other customers and shaping the marketing strategy according
to it. The importance of national cultural values helps in reacting to stimuli and processing
the information accordingly.
Conclusion
It can be concluded that, cultural values plays an important role as it decides the way
employees will interact with each other. Apart from that, in international marketing it is
important for the marketers to understand the customers’ belief so that they can deliver
services as per their demands and expectations. The culture of very organisation is different
as it represents some predefined policies that help customers to get a direction in which they
should move. The cultural value is one of the key factor that helps in creating brand image of
the organisation. The above discussion contains a critical discussion about the role of cultural
values in the international market.

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References
Beck, J. T., Chapman, K., & Palmatier, R. W. (2015). Understanding relationship marketing
and loyalty program effectiveness in global markets. Journal of International
Marketing, 23(3), 1-21.
Eajournals. (2016). THE INFLUENCE OF NATIONAL CULTURE ON INTERNATIONAL
MARKETING & CONSUMER BEHAVIOR IN IRAQI KURDISTAN, USING
HOFSTEDE’S MODEL AT INDIVIDUAL LEVEL. Retrieved from
http://www.eajournals.org/wp-content/uploads/The-Influence-of-National-Culture-on-
International-Marketing-Consumer-Behavior-in-Iraqi-Kurdistan-Using-Hofstede---s-
Model-At-Individual-Level.pdf.
Gopalakrishnan, S., & Zhang, H. (2017). Client dependence and vendor innovation: The
moderating role of organizational culture. Industrial Marketing Management, 66, 80-
89.
Mazanec, J. A., Crotts, J. C., Gursoy, D., & Lu, L. (2015). Homogeneity versus heterogeneity
of cultural values: An item-response theoretical approach applying Hofstede's cultural
dimensions in a single nation. Tourism Management, 48, 299-304.
Petersen, J. A., Kushwaha, T., & Kumar, V. (2015). Marketing communication strategies and
consumer financial decision making: The role of national culture. Journal of
Marketing, 79(1), 44-63.
Samaha, S. A., Beck, J. T., & Palmatier, R. W. (2014). The role of culture in international
relationship marketing. Journal of Marketing, 78(5), 78-98.