International Marketing

15th edition

Philip R. Cateora, Mary C. Gilly, and John L. Graham

 Imperatives, Electives,
and Exclusives
• Cultural imperatives - Business customs and
expectations that must be met and conformed to or
avoided if relationships are to be successful
– In some cultures a person’s demeanor is more critical than
in others
– Imperatives vary from culture to culture
• Cultural electives - Relate to areas of behavior or to
customs that cultural aliens may wish to conform to or
participate in but that are not required
– A cultural elective in one county may be an imperative in
another
• Cultural exclusives - Customs or behavior patterns
reserved exclusively for the locals
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The Impact of American Culture
on Management Style
• “Master of destiny” viewpoint
• Independent enterprise as the instrument
of social action
• Personnel selection and reward based on
merit
• Decisions based on objective analysis
• Wide sharing in decision making
• Never-ending quest for improvement
• Competition producing efficiency
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Authority and Decision Making
• Influencers of the authority structure of
business:
– High PDI Countries
• Mexico, Malaysia
– Low PDI Countries
• Denmark, Israel
• Three typical authority patterns:
– Top-level management decisions
– Decentralized decisions
– Committee or group decisions
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 Management objectives and
Aspiration
• Security and mobility
• Personal Life
• Affiliation and Social Acceptance
• Power and Achievement

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 Continuing

• Security and Mobility:

Personal security and job mobility relates
directly to basic human motivation and
therefore have widespread economic and
social implication.
• Personal Life : For many individuals ,a good
personal and family life takes priority over
profit, security or any other goal

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 Continuing
• Affiliation and Social Acceptance
In some countries , acceptance by neighbors and
fellow workers is a predominant goal within
business.
• Power and Achievement
Although there is some power-seeking by
business management throughout the world.

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 Communication Style
• Face-to-face Communication
• Internet Communication

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 Continuing
• Face-to-face Communication
No language readily translates into another
because the meaning of words differ widely
among languages.
• Internet Communication
The message on a business-to-business website
is an extension of the company and should be
as sensitive to business customs as any other
company representative would be.
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 P-Time versus M-Time
• Monochronic time
– Tend to concentrate on one thing at a time
– Divide time into small units and are concerned with
promptness
– Most low-context cultures operate on M-Time
• Polychronic time
– Dominant in high-context cultures
– Characterized by the simultaneous occurrence of many
things
– Allows for relationships to build and context to be
absorbed as parts of high-context cultures
• Most cultures offer a mix of P-time and M-time behavior
• As global markets expand more businesspeople from
P-time cultures are adapting to M-time.

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 Marketing Orientation
• The extent of a company’s market orientation
has been shown to relate positively to profits
• Firms in other countries have not been able to
move from the traditional production, product,
and sales orientation to the marketing
orientation
• Research has shown that sometimes in can be
difficult to encourage a marketing orientation
across diverse business units in global
companies

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 Business Ethics
Corruption
• What is Corruption?
– Profits (Marxism)
– Individualism (Japan)
– Rampant consumerism (India)
– Missionaries (China)
– Intellectual property laws (Sub-Sahara Africa)
– Currency speculation ( Southeast Asia)
• Criticisms of Mattel and Barbie
– Sales of Barbie declined worldwide after the global
standardization
– Parents and government did react
– Mattel’s strategy boosted sales of its competition
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The Western Focus on Bribery
• In the 1970s, bribery became a national issue with
public disclosure of political payoffs to foreign
recipients by U.S. firms
• The decision to pay a bribe creates a major conflict
between what is ethical and proper and what is
profitable and sometimes necessary for business
• The Organization for Economic Corporation and
Development (OECD) and Transparency
International (TI) are combating the bribery of
foreign public officials in international business
transactions

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