It is a responsibility of the global firm to ascertain the level of importance o

Question

It is a responsibility of the global firm to ascertain the level of importance of various aspects of culture. Companies’ operations need to recognize and adjust to the cultural environment. In this week’s Lesson, you will find eight elements of culture. For this assignment, there are four elements of culture that are most important when marketing products and services internationally: language, religion, manners and customs, and aesthetics. Indicate why each is important and provide examples in your response.
Write a paper of 500-600 words, typewritten in double-spaced APA format (Times New Roman, 12 pt. styles), page margins Top, Bottom, Left Side and Right Side = 1 inch, with reasonable accommodation being made for special situations and online submission variances. It is a responsibility of the global firm to ascertain the level of importance of various aspects of culture. Companies’ operations need to recognize and adjust to the cultural environment. In this week’s Lesson, you will find eight elements of culture. For this assignment, there are four elements of culture that are most important when marketing products and services internationally: language, religion, manners and customs, and aesthetics. Indicate why each is important and provide examples in your response.
Write a paper of 500-600 words, typewritten in double-spaced APA format (Times New Roman, 12 pt. styles), page margins Top, Bottom, Left Side and Right Side = 1 inch, with reasonable accommodation being made for special situations and online submission variances. It is a responsibility of the global firm to ascertain the level of importance of various aspects of culture. Companies’ operations need to recognize and adjust to the cultural environment. In this week’s Lesson, you will find eight elements of culture. For this assignment, there are four elements of culture that are most important when marketing products and services internationally: language, religion, manners and customs, and aesthetics. Indicate why each is important and provide examples in your response.
Write a paper of 500-600 words, typewritten in double-spaced APA format (Times New Roman, 12 pt. styles), page margins Top, Bottom, Left Side and Right Side = 1 inch, with reasonable accommodation being made for special situations and online submission variances.

Explanation / Answer

The culture of a country affects numerous aspects of its society. These include language, religion, values and attitudes, manners and customs, material elements, aesthetics, education, and social institutions (Czinkota & Ronkainen, 2003). Let us discuss some of these factors step-by-step.

Language

Verbal and nonverbal communication are the two essential types of language. Verbal communication refers to the message's actual content (what it says), whereas nonverbal communication involves tone of voice as well as the gestures, body position, facial expressions, eye contact, and any other body language that accompanies verbal communication.

Language is very important when providing access to local markets through advertising. There are plentiful examples of how language mistakes have cost marketers in international markets. Numerous mistakes have happened because corporations did not understand how slogans for products would be interpreted on the basis of local culture. For example, when the KFC slogan: "Finger-Lickin Good," was translated in China as "Eat your fingers off", it not only kills the actual purpose of the slogan but also distorts the meaning causing brand dilution (Gaspar, Kolari, Hise, Bierman & Smith, 2017).

Religion

Religion is an influential cultural aspect that must be recognized as companies manage their international operations and market their products in foreign countries. For example, companies marketing food products in international must be aware of religious differences. Jews and Muslims are forbidden from eating pork, and their food must be prepared in a particular manner, kosher for Jews and halal for Muslims. Islam also prohibits the drinking of alcoholic beverages. Again, Turkey is a Muslim country, it has permitted the consumption of alcoholic beverage. In 2013, the prime minister of Turkey, however, instituted a ban on advertisements promoting these beverages (Schewizer & Hacaoglu, 2013).

Manners and Customs

International businesses must appreciate the manners and customs, the way a society does things that prevail in foreign countries. Manners and customs influence both the management and marketing operations of a corporation. When it comes to marketing same products, different countries have different manners and customers related the consumption. Understanding the manners and customs is crucial to creating effective communication. For instance, use of right and left hand for meetings and greetings.

For example, when they found that Greeting arriving travelers by flapping flags is a Danish tradition, Coca-Cola decided to apply this to Denmark’s biggest airport. People were able to take flags from an outdoor ad of the classic logo of Coca-Cola and welcome their returning relatives and friends and offer them a warm welcome to the “happiest country in the world”. This made the marketing efforts of Coca-Cola very effective (Stavrou, 2017).

Aesthetics

Color, form, and music are the major components of aesthetics (i.e., taste and beauty as perceived by a society). From a marketing perspective, color can be an important packaging variable and companies pursuing international markets must carefully choose colors. For example, black in the United States indicates mourning, but in Japan white is the color of mourning. Green is an acceptable color in Muslim countries; all flags of Muslim countries contain green. Korean aesthetics tend to emphasize dark shades of color, while pastels are popular in many Western countries. Opera and symphonic music tend to be more revered in European countries, such as Italy and France than they are in the United States (Gaspar, Kolari, Hise, Bierman & Smith, 2017).

Bibliography

Czinkota, M., & Ronkainen, I. (2003). An International Marketing Manifesto. Journal Of International Marketing, 11(1), 13-27. http://dx.doi.org/10.1509/jimk.11.1.13.20140

Gaspar, J., Kolari, J., Hise, R., Bierman, L., & Smith, L. (2017). Introduction to Global Business(2nd ed.). CENGAGE Learning.

Stavrou, R. (2017). How do manners and customs influence the global marketing?. Globalorientation.blogspot.in. Retrieved 21 December 2017, from https://globalorientation.blogspot.in/2015/04/how-do-manners-and-customs-influence.html

Schweizer, K., & Hacaoglu, S. (2013). A Sobering Future For Liquor Makers in Turkey. Business Week, (Jun 24-30), 26.

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