Cross-Cultural Marketing

Cross-Cultural Marketing Rafael Capurro Hochschule der Medien (HdM) Sommersemester 2006 Source: Marc Hermeking: Culture and Internet Consumption1 http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol11/issue1/hermeking.html

Introduction • Culture-free products: like ICT • Culture-bound products: like food (difficult/non difficult to standardize) -> The latter notion needs to be revised because tecnical systems are subject to cultural influences. R. Capurro: Vorlesung Interkulturelle Websiteforschung

1. Cultural Differences in the Consumtion of the Internet • The Internet as a product of ICT is a marketable good. • The Internet is a new channel of communication through which marketing communication can be spread. R. Capurro: Vorlesung Interkulturelle Websiteforschung

1. Cultural differences… • Consumption research is an essential precondition for appropriate product design. • Try to uncover how much, by whom, where, at what time, for what purpose, and according to whose preferences the Internet is used and how it is used R. Capurro: Vorlesung Interkulturelle Websiteforschung

1. Cultural differences… • The Worldwide Disparity • 2000: most Internet users in USA (147 Mio), followed by Europe (91 Mio) and Asia Pacific Basin (75 Mio). • 2005: USA (48%), Canada & Australia (46%), Germany (36%)…-> Digital Divide. • Cultures with low Uncertainty Avoidance are more open to the Internet as new medium of communication. R. Capurro: Vorlesung Interkulturelle Websiteforschung

1. Cultural differences… • The correlation with low Uncertainty Avoidance was weakened by high rates of literacy and international trade – but not by a high economic development. • Individualism as a (positive) correlation for Internet use. R. Capurro: Vorlesung Interkulturelle Websiteforschung

1. Cultural differences… • Role of Cultural Communication Styles: • Individualistic cultures (egalitarian, democratic nature of the Internet) • High/low-context communication (Hall): shared vs. transmitted information • High Individualism -> low-context (explicit, direct, formal, written) (Swiss, Germans, Scandinavians, Anglo-Americans, English) • Collectivism -> high-context (implicit, informal, symbolic, pictures) (Japanese, Arabs, Latin American, Italian-Spanish, French) R. Capurro: Vorlesung Interkulturelle Websiteforschung

1. Cultural Differences… • High-context cultures: Indirect and transformational advertising messages creating emotions through pictures and entertainment (France, Japan) • Low-context cultures: direct and rational advertising messages providing product information (Germany, USA) R. Capurro: Vorlesung Interkulturelle Websiteforschung

2. Implied Cultural Concepts • Cateora‘s model of the international marketing environment • „uncontrollables“ (legislation, politics, economy, topographic facts, infrastructure, standards of technology…) • „controllables“ (marketing strategies and instruments) But: this model is based on the concept of national culture (as Hofstede‘s) R. Capurro: Vorlesung Interkulturelle Websiteforschung

2. Implied… • Hofstede‘s model is based on five cultural dimensions (80 countries): • Hierarchy • Group orientation (Individualism) • Gender Roles (Masculinity) • Trust • Risk-taking (Uncertainty Avoidance) R. Capurro: Vorlesung Interkulturelle Websiteforschung

2. Implied… • Hall‘s model (only a few countries are mentioned): • High- vs. Low Context (shared vs. Transmitted information) • Explicit vs. Indirect communication style (formal/informal, written/symbolic) R. Capurro: Vorlesung Interkulturelle Websiteforschung

3. Cultural Influences on Website Design • Site Quality (usability) • Establishment of trust • Creation of positive effect during website use -> more trust correlates to culturally-familiar communication style R. Capurro: Vorlesung Interkulturelle Websiteforschung

3. Cultural influences… • Culture-related design criteria: • Correlation between content appeal and layout: • Layout: written text -> information/rational i.e. low-context communication • Layout: visual picture -> entertainment/emotional, i.e. high-context communication R. Capurro: Vorlesung Interkulturelle Websiteforschung

3. Cultural influences… • Structural design criteria: • Content appeal • Layout • Length of pages • Multimedia presentation • Interactivity • Structure of content • Total volume of website • Degree of navigation support R. Capurro: Vorlesung Interkulturelle Websiteforschung

4. Some general findings • Websites of global companies tend to be • strongly standardized • dominated by rational content appeals • text-heavy layout presenting small pictures only • Low multimedia presentation • High interactivity • Large website volume • Deeply structured content • Intensive navigation support R. Capurro: Vorlesung Interkulturelle Websiteforschung

4. Some general… • Amazon Homepages: • High-context: France www.amazon.fr • Low-context: Germany www.amazon.de R. Capurro: Vorlesung Interkulturelle Websiteforschung

4. Some general R. Capurro: Vorlesung Interkulturelle Websiteforschung

4. Some general… R. Capurro: Vorlesung Interkulturelle Websiteforschung

4. Some general… • In the Old Economy, websites of companies representig industrial goods and primarily adressing business users (B2B) tend to be standardized to a similar degree. • ABB UK and ABB France R. Capurro: Vorlesung Interkulturelle Websiteforschung

4. Some general… • The general nature of these websites corresponds to • Low-context (explicit) communication • Monochronic (linear) time orientation R. Capurro: Vorlesung Interkulturelle Websiteforschung

4. Some general… • Websites that address consumers (B2C) reveal different tendencies: • High-interest (durble) products: modest standardization • High-context (indirect) cultures exhibit a higher degree of cultural adaptation, more colored backgrounds, larger pictures, animated illustrations R. Capurro: Vorlesung Interkulturelle Websiteforschung

4. Some general… • Multimodality tends to be higher in high-context (symbolic) cultures • Navigation support tends to be less intensive in high-context (symbolic) cultures (frequent use of icons) -> for instance: Sony USA (low-context) vs. Sony Japan (high-context) R. Capurro: Vorlesung Interkulturelle Websiteforschung

4. Some general… • Websites representing global brands of non-durable, low-interest products reveal a higher degree of cultural adaptation. • -> Coca Cola USA / Coca Cola Italy • See Okazaki (2005): Analysis of 206 homages of US companies in four European countries (durable/non-durable products) R. Capurro: Vorlesung Interkulturelle Websiteforschung

4. Some general… • Local websites of global consumer brands occasionally seem to be more standardized worldwide. • See • websites of French food brand (tend to represent high-context (implicit) style • Websites of German car brand (tend to represent low-context (explicit) style (Mercedes-Benz in Italy, Lancia in Germany) R. Capurro: Vorlesung Interkulturelle Websiteforschung

4. Some general… • The „country-of-origin“ effect is difficult to achieve successfully: it works only in case the images of the product are positively related in the targeted countries (otherwise trust is created by culture-specific adaptations) R. Capurro: Vorlesung Interkulturelle Websiteforschung

4. Some results… • Verbal headlines or slogans differ quite the same respect • Other linguistic aspects (like the use of „we“, logical styles, forms of rational expression…) could provide for additional cues for cultural adaptation. R. Capurro: Vorlesung Interkulturelle Websiteforschung

4. Some results… • Degree of website adaptation with respect to the represented product: • B2B: low-context (explicit, written): ABB (industrial goods) • B2C: high(er) adaptation: durables (Sony), non-durables (Coca-Cola) R. Capurro: Vorlesung Interkulturelle Websiteforschung

4. Some results… • Too many websites are still characterized by a dominant low-context (rational, text-heavy) style • A country‘s low rate of Internet consumption could be considered as a general indicator for low quota of culturally appropriate websites. R. Capurro: Vorlesung Interkulturelle Websiteforschung

Cross-Cultural Marketing

Cross-Cultural Marketing

Presentation Transcript

Cross Cultural management

Cross-Cultural Coaching

Cross-Cultural Differences

Cross-Cultural Management

Cross-Cultural Competence

Cross-Cultural Psychology

Cross–Cultural Communication

Cross Cultural Marketing

Cross Cultural Competences

Cross-Cultural Negotiations

Cross-Cultural Collaboration

Cross-Cultural Exchanges

Cross-Cultural Alliance

CROSS CULTURAL MISSIONS

Cross-cultural Communication

Cross-Cultural Marketing Blunders

Cross-Cultural Psychology

Cross Cultural Comparison

Cross-Cultural Leadership

Cross Cultural management

Cross Cultural

Cross Cultural Communication