The Influences of the Cultural Differences on the Internatioal Marketing(4)

The Influences of the Cultural Differences on International MarketingbyXu YashengUnder the Supervision of Li YangSubmitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirementsfor the Degree of Bachelor of ArtsSchool of Foreign LanguageAnqing Teachers CollegeApril 2015The Influences of the Cultural Differences on International Marketing Abstract: Nowadays, the international marketing is becoming more and more important. It is very important for a countrys economy if they can do well in international marketing. However, different countries have different culture backgrounds and that makes many cultural differences among them. On the one hand, cultural differences can have positive impact on international marketing. On the other hand, they can also have negative impact. This paper is trying to find out what kinds of impacts do these cultural differences have. In the first part, there is a brief introduction for this paper. Through the introduction, you can easily understand our purpose to this paper. In the second part, there is a introduction about international marketing. In this part, you can understand what is international marketing and the world tendency for international marketing. In the third part, this paper is going to explain what is cultural difference. After reading this part, you can fully understand the causes of cultural differences though the causes are various. Whats more, in the fourth part, this paper is going to analyze the influences of cultural differences on international marketing in detail. It has both positive and negative impacts. At last, there is a conclusion for this paper, our companies should take advantage of those positive impacts and make big progress in the future. Key words: cultural differences; international marketing; influenceThe Influences of the Cultural Differences on International MarketingThesis statement : Cultural differences have both positive and active impacts on international marketing, so it is important to find out these impacts and make big progress in international marketing.Outline. Introduction. International Marketing A. The definition and importance of international marketing B. Domestic marketing and global marketing. Cultural Differences A. The definition of culture B. Causes of Cultural Differences. The positive impact of cultural differences on international marketing A. Cultural differences create more market opportunities B. Cultural differences benefit market segmentation C. Cultural differences is helpful to form cultural monopoly advantage D. Cultural differences is helpful for companies to have a deeper awareness and understanding of international marketing environment . The negative impact of cultural differences on international marketing A. The intangibility of cultural differences constitutes imperceptible marketing obstacles in international marketing B. Long-term cultural differences constitute insurmountable cultural barriers C. Cultural differences increase the difficulty of research in international marketing D. Cultural differences can generate communication barriers in international marketing . ConclusionThe Influences of the Cultural Differences on International Marketing.Introduction Nowadays, the international marketing has become increasingly important because of the emergence of the transnational corporation. Cultural differences bring these corporations a lot of chances, however, they also give them many challenges. Cultural differences have both positive and negative impact on international marketing. Therefore, when conducting with international marketing, these multinational companies should take advantage of the positive impact and they should also take appropriate measures to avoid negative effects. The increasing intensity of competition in global markets is a challenge facing companies at all stages of involvement in international markets. As markets open up, and become more integrated, the pace of change accelerates, technology shrinks distances between markets and reduces the scale advantages of large firms, new sources of competition emerge, and competitive pressures mount at all levels of the organization. Also, the threat of competition from companies in countries such as India, China, Malaysia, and Brazil is on the rise, as their own domestic markets are opening up to foreign competition, stimulating greater awareness of international market opportunities and of the need to be internationally competitive. Companies which previously focused on protected domestic markets are entering into markets in other countries, creating new sources of competition, often targeted to price-sensitive market segments. Not only is competition intensifying for all firms regardless of their degree of global market involvement, but the basis for competition is changing. Competition continues to be market-based and ultimately relies on delivering superior value to consumers. However, success in global markets depends on knowledge accumulation and deployment. Today, more and more marketing companies specialize in translating products from one country to another. So if you want to win in international marketing, you need to pay more attention to cultural differences. Only by doing this, can these multinational companies do a good job in international marketing.International Marketing The definition of international marketing can be various, however, it is different from domestic marketing.A. The definition and importance of international marketingThe performance of business activities designed to plan, price, promote and direct the companys flow of goods and services to consumers or users in more than one nation for a profit.International marketing is the export, franchising, joint venture or full direct entry of a marketing organization into another country (Weng Feixiang, 2006: 18). This can be achieved by exporting a companys product into another location, entry through a joint venture with another firm in the target country, or foreign direct investment into target country. It can be as straightforward as using existing marketing strategies, mix and tools for export on the one side, to a highly complex relationship strategy including localization, local product offerings, pricing, production and distribution with customized promotions, offers, website, social media and leadership. Internationalization and international marketing meet the needs of selected foreign countries where a companys value can be exported and there is inter-firm and firm learning, optimization and efficiency in economies of scale and scope. The firm does not need to export or enter all world markets to be considered an international marketer.Many companies want to increase to their consumer outreach and not be limited by geography. As technology improves, international communication becomes easier to conduct. For many corporations, strong communication skills are important in creating and maintaining any type of long term business relationship. Many businesses understand that people in different countries have varying needs. How can companies bridge cultural gaps to reach people from all over the world? The answer is simple: international marketing. International marketers know that in order for businesses to expand, the companies must understand differences in cultures, customs, values, beliefs, languages, and needs. For example, one product may sell really well in one nation but fail to sell in another. Companies that better understand the different markets and target audiences end up saving more. As a result, conducting market research is important and can be very cost-effective for international corporations. Most international marketers gain knowledge of the specific marketing environment and make marketing decisions based on the size of the market, competitors, potential barriers, etc. B. Domestic marketing and global marketing There are two kinds of marketing. 1. Domestic marketing A marketing restricted to the political boundaries of a country is called Domestic Marketing. ( Ran Zongrong, 2006). A company marketing only within its national boundaries only has to consider domestic competition. Even if that competition includes companies from foreign markets, it still only has to focus on the competition that exists in its home market. Products and services are developed for customers in the home market without thought of how the product or service could be used in other markets. All marketing decisions are made at headquarters. The biggest obstacle these marketers face is being blinded by emerging global marketers. Because domestic marketers do not generally focus on the changes in the global marketplace, they may not be aware of a potential competitor who is a market leader on three continents until they simultaneously open 20 stores in the northeastern U.S. These marketers can be considered ethnocentric as they are most concerned with how they are perceived in their home country. The domestic market is a large market that every nation needs. These markets are all restricted to be under control of certain boundaries in that company or country. This type of marketing is the type of marketing that takes place in the headquarters. In domestic markets it helps to reduce the cost of competition. By reducing competition the company has a better shot of being more successful in the long run. Also if the companys competition is not a big factor that will affect their business, they have a good shot at making prices higher and people will still purchase that product. A firm operating in a domestic market also gets the opportunity to operate in different areas and this gives the company a bigger market to advertise. Even in domestic markets, businesses are still trying to trade with each other to promote their business to other businesses in the area. An advantage to marketing domestically is that the firm may be entitled to tax benefits for offering jobs to the nation and for giving people opportunities to work. A firm that markets domestically helps countries by offering more jobs, bringing in additional business to the market and stimulates trading within the market.2. Global Marketing Global marketing is a firms ability to market to almost all countries on the planet. With extensive reach, the need for a firms product or services is established. The global firm retains the capability, reach, knowledge, staff, skills, insights, and expertise to deliver value to customers worldwide. The firm understands the requirement to service customers locally with global standard solutions or products, and localizes that product as required to maintain an optimal balance of cost, efficiency, customization and localization in a control-customization continuum to best meet local, national and global requirements to position itself against or with competitors, partners, alliances, substitutes and defend against new global and local market entrants per country, region or city. The firm will price its products appropriately worldwide, nationally and locally, and promote, deliver access and information to its customers in the most cost-effective way. The firm also needs to understand, research, measure and develop loyalty for its brand and global brand equity for the long term (Philip, C. 2003: 19). At this level, global marketing and global branding are integrated. Branding involves a structured process of analyzing soft assets and hard assets of a firms resources. The strategic analysis and development of a brand includes customer analysis competitive analysis and self-analysis. Further, Global brand identity development is the process establishing brands of products, the firm, and services locally and worldwide with consideration for scope, product attributes, quality, value, uses, users and organizational attributes personality attributes and brand customer relationship and importantly symbols, trademarks metaphors, imagery, mood, photography and the companys brand heritage. In establishing a global brand, the brand proposition are identified, localized and streamlined to be consistent with a local, national, international and global point of view. The brand developed needs to be credible.A global marketing and branding implementation system distributes marketing assets , sales collateral, press junkets, kits, product samples, news releases, local mini-sites, posters, alliance and partner materials, affiliate programs and materials, internal communications, newsletters, investor materials, event promotions and trade shows to deliver an integrated, comprehensive and focused communication, access and value to the customers, that can be tracked to build loyalty, case studies and further establish the companys global marketing and brand footprint (Hutchinson, T. and Water A, 1987: 6). Cultural DifferencesDifferent country have different culture. The causes of cultural differences are also various.A. The definition of culture In a broad sense, culture means the total way of a people, including the ideology, patterns of belief, customs, objects, institutions, techniques, and languages that characterizes the life of human community. As culture is so inclusive, it permeats virtually every aspect of human life and influences perdominantly peoples behavior. In a narrow sense, culture may refer to local or specific practice, beliefs or customs, which can be mostly found in folk culture, enterprise culture and food culture etc. A system of shared beliefs, values customs, behaviors and artifacts that the member of a society use to cope with the world and with one another and that are transmitted from generation to generation. Generally speaking, there are two types of culture: material and spiritual. Culture covers aspects of our daily life, like history culture, food culture, attitude, view, and ways of life (Shi Dengping, 2010 : 8-10). B. Causes of Cultural Differences The impacts of regional differences, ethnic differences, political differences, economic differences, religious differences and value differences on peoples life are embodied in the catering, clothing, housing, holidays, rituals and other material and cultural life in all aspects. These result in cultural differences in different countries and regions.1. Regional Differences Regional differences refer to that people in different geographical regions often have different languages, life styles and hobbies because of the differences of geographical environments, levels of economic development and traditions, which would affect their behavior and habits. For example, western countries pay more attention to Christmas, while the regions have no snow, such as some African countries near the equator, where people have no idea of Christmas. The reason is that the best decoration to Christmas is snow, but people near the equator are not familiar with the snow which never falls on there.2. Ethnic Differences Ethnic differences refer to that different ethnic groups in the process of long-term development form its own languages, customs, habits and hobbies. They have their own characteristics in their diet, clothing, housing, holidays, rituals and other material and cultural life ( Mu Honggui and Sun Jie, 2006).3. Political Differences Political differences mean that policies and regulations of the political system standardize the behavior of the peoples role so that people under different political system have different political concepts. Take America and France for example: the power of American president is strictly limited by the Constitution and the other two authorities (Congress and Supreme Court). While France has to expand their presidents power due to their own conditions.4. Economic Differences Economic difference is a reflection of the cultural differences due to economic factors. For example, people in the western developed countries have the rich life, and receive the high education so that they pay more attention to the quality of life, and they have good safety awareness. But in the Third World, especially the developing countries, people are more concerned with the problem of food and clothing. So this is reflected in cultural differences.5. Religion Differences Religion is a historical product with human beings developing into a certain stage. There are three main religions in the world: Christianity, Buddhism and Islam. Christian (Protestant) is predominant in northern Europe, North America and Australia; Christian (Catholic) is predominant in Western Europe and South American countries. Islam largely scope of the Middle East and North Africa. Many people in Asia regions believe in Buddhism. Different religions have different cultural trends and precepts, which affect the way that people understand things, conduct and values.6. Value Differences Value concepts mean peoples evaluation criteria to human beings internal world. It contains time value, wealth value, the attitude toward life and risk. To the same problems, different people in different societies have different views or even diametrically opposite views. For example, parents in western countries tend to cultivate children to be independent. They encourage their children to deal with their personal things by themselves. Parents in eastern countries, however, always spoil their children. They always help their children finish some things which the children have the ability to cope with by themselves.This causes their dependence on their parents even when they grow up. This shows that different countries share different values. The positive impact of cultural differences o