1.Material culture
Material culture refers to tools, artefacts’ and technology. Before trading in a foreign culture it is important to assess the material culture like transportation, power, and communications and so on.
Input-output tables may be useful in assessing this. All aspects of marketing are affected by
material culture like sources of power for products, media availability and distribution. For
example, refrigerated transport does not exist in many African countries. Material culture
introductions into a country may bring about cultural changes which may or may not be
desirable.
2.Language
Language reflects the nature and values of society. There may be many sub-cultural
languages like dialects which may have to be accounted for. Some countries have two or
three languages.
In Zimbabwe there are three languages - English, Shona and Ndebele with numerous dialects.
In Nigeria, some linguistic groups have engaged in hostile activities. Language can cause
communication problems - especially in the use of media or written material. It is best to
learn the language or engage someone who understands it well.
3.Aesthetics
Aesthetics refer to the ideas in a culture concerning beauty and good taste as expressed in the
arts -music, art, drama and dancing and the particular appreciation of colour and form.
African music is different in form to Western music. Aesthetic differences affect design,
colours, packaging, brand names and media messages. For example, unless explained, the brand name FAVCO would mean nothing to Western importers, in Zimbabwe most people
would instantly recognise FAVCO as the brand of horticultural produce.
4.Education
Education refers to the transmission of skills, ideas and attitudes as well as training in
particular disciplines. Education can transmit cultural ideas or be used for change, for
example the local university can build up an economy's performance. The UN agency
UNESCO gathers data on education information. For example it shows in Ethiopia only 12%
of the viable age group enrol at secondary school, but the figure is 97% in the USA.
Education levels, or lack of it, affect business in a number of ways:
- advertising programmes and labelling
- girls and women excluded from formal education (literacy rates)
- conducting market research
- complex products with instructions
- relations with distributors and,
- support sources - finance, advancing agencies etc.
5.Religion
Religion provides the best insight into a society's behaviour and helps answer the question
why people behave rather than how they behave. Religion can affect purchasing and supply
in a number of ways:
- Religious holidays - Ramadan cannot get access to consumers as shops are closed.
- consumption patterns - fish for Catholics on Friday
- economic role of women - Islam
- caste systems - difficulty in getting to different costs for segmentation/niche
marketing
- joint and extended families - Hinduism and organizational structures;
- institution of the church - Iran and its effect on advertising, "Western" images
- market segments - Maylasia - Malay, Chinese and Indian cultures making market
- segmentation
- sensitivity is needed to be alert to religious differences.
6.Attitudes and values
Values often have a religious foundation, and attitudes relate to economic activities. It is
essential to ascertain attitudes towards marketing activities which lead to wealth or material
gain, for example, in Buddhist society these may not be relevant.
Also "change" may not be needed, or even wanted, and it may be better to relate products to
traditional values rather than just new ones. Many African societies are risk averse; therefore, entrepreneurialism may not always be relevant. Attitudes are always precursors of human behavior and so it is essential that research is done carefully on these.
7.Social organization
Refers to the way people relate to each other, for example, extended families, units, kinship.
In some countries kinship may be a tribe and so segmentation may have to be based on this.
Other forms of groups may be religious or political, age, caste and so on. All these groups
may affect the international business especially during planning. There are other aspects of
culture, but the above covers the main ingredients.
Titany answered the question on November 26, 2021 at 12:25