CHAPTER 3 : History and Geography: The Foundations of Culture

History and Geography: The Foundations of Culture

What Should You Learn?

• The importance of history and geography in the understanding of international markets

• The effects of history on a country’s culture

• How culture interprets events through its own eyes

• How the United States moved west and how this more affected attitudes

• The effect of geographic diversity on economic profiles of a country

• Why markets need to be responsive to geography of a country

• Economic effects of controlling population growth versus aging population

• Communications are an integral part of international commerce

• The importance of culture to an international marketer

• The origins and elements of culture

• The impact of cultural borrowing

• The strategy of planned change and its consequences

History Perspective in Global Business

• History helps define a nation’s mission

        - How it perceives its neighbors - How it perceives itself - Its place in the world

• Insights into history are important for understanding current attitudes
• It is necessary to study culture as it is now as well as to understand culture as it was - A country’s history

• Historically, loyalty and service, a sense of responsibility, and respect for discipline, training, and artistry were stressed to maintain stability and order

• A historical perspective gives the foreigner a basis on which to begin developing cultural sensitivity and a better understanding of contemporary Japanese behavior

Geography and Global Markets

• Geography

        – an element of the uncontrollable environment that confronts every marketer
        - Affects a society’s culture and economy
        - Physical makeup limits a nation’s ability to supply its people’s needs

Geography, Nature and Economic Growth

• As countries prosper, natural barriers are overcome
• Environmental issues

            - Disruption of ecosystems
         - Relocation of people
         - Inadequate hazardous waste management
         - Industrial pollution

World Trade Routes :-

• Progression of trade routesOverland

         - Sea routes
         - Air routes
         - The Internet

• Trade routes bind world together, minimizing:

         - Distance
         - Natural barriers        
         - Lack of resources        
         - Fundamental differences between and economies

• Trade routes represent attempts to overcome influence of geography

         - Causing economic and social imbalances

Communication Links

1. Telegraph
2. Telephone
3. Television
4. Satellites
5. Computer
6. Internet

Summary

• A prospective international marketer should be reasonably familiar with the world, its climate, and topographic differences

• Geographic hurdles must be recognized as having a direct effect on marketing and the related activities of communications and distribution

• Without a historical understanding of a culture, the attitudes within the marketplace may not be fully understood

• The study of history and geography is needed to provide the marketer with an understanding of why a country has developed as it has rather than as a guide for adapting marketing plans

Cultural Dynamics in Assessing Global Markets

Global Perspective Equities and eBay
– Culture Gets in the Way

• Culture deals with a group’s design for living

• The successful marketer clearly must be a student of culture

• Markets are the result of the three-way interaction of a marketer’s

         - Economic conditions
         - Efforts
         - All other elements of culture

• The use of something new is the beginning of cultural change

        - The marketer becomes a change agent




Culture’s Pervasive Impact

• Culture affects every part of our lives, every day, from birth to death, and everything in between

        - Japan  –  the year of the Fire Horse

• As countries move from agricultural to industrial to services economies’ birthrates decline

• Consequences of consumption

        - Tobacco

• Culture not only affects consumption, it also affects production

• Stomach cancer in Japan

Definitions and Origins of Culture

• Traditional definition of culture

        - Culture is the sum of the values, rituals, symbols, beliefs, and thought processes  
          that are learned, shared by a group of people, and transmitted from generation to
          generation

• Humans make adaptations to changing environments through innovation

• Individuals learn culture from social institutions

        - Socialization (growing up)
        - Acculturation (adjusting to a new culture)
        - Application (decisions about consumption and production)



We All Love Flowers – Why?

1. Geography
2. History
3. Technology and economics
4. Social institutions
5. Cultural values
6. Aesthetics as symbols

History, the Political Economy and Technology

• History

    - Impact of specific events can be seen reflected in technology, social
      institutions, cultural values, and even consumer behavior
    - Tobacco was the original source of the Virginia colony’s economic survival in
      the 1600s

• Political Economy

       3 (Three) approaches to governance competed for world dominance
             (1) Fascism
             (2) Communism
             (3) Democracy/free enterprise

• Technology

     - Jet aircraft, air conditioning, televisions, computers, Internet, etc.
     - None more important than the birth control pill.

     Social Institutions :-

1. Family

        - Nepotism
        - Role of extended family
        - Favoritism of boys in some cultures

1. Religion

        - First institution infants are exposed to outside the home- Impact of values systems
        - Misunderstanding of beliefs

1. School

        - Affects all aspects of the culture,from economic development to consumer 

          behavior

        - No country has been successful economically with less than 50% literacy

1. The media

        - Media time has replaced family time

        - TV

        - Internet

1. Government

        - Influences the thinking and behaviors of adult citizens

        - Propaganda

        - Passage, promulgation, promotion, and enforce of laws

1. Corporations - Most innovations are introduced to societies by companies

        - Spread through media
        - Change agents



Elements of Culture

• Cultural values

        - Individualism/Collectivism Index
        - Power Distance Index
        - Uncertainty Avoidance Index
        - Cultural Values and Consumer Behavior

• Rituals

        - Marriage

• Funerals
• Symbols

         - Language
         - Linguistic distance
         - Aesthetics as symbols
         - Insensitivity to aesthetic values can offend, create a negative impression, and in 
           general, render marketing efforts ineffective or even damaging

• Beliefs

         - To make light of superstitions in other cultures can be an expensive mistake

• Thought processes

         - Difference in perception - Focus vs. big-picture



Cultural Change

• Dynamic in nature – it is a living process

• Paradoxical because culture is conservative and resists change

         - Changes caused by war or natural disasters.

         - Society seeking ways to solve problems created by changes in environment.

         - Culture is the means used in adjusting to the environmental and 

           historical components of human existence.

Cultural Borrowing

• Effort to learn from others’ cultural ways in the quest for better solutions to a society’s particular problems

         - Imitating diversity of other makes cultures unique
         - Contact can make cultures grow closer or further apart

• Habits, foods, and customs are adapted to fit each society’s needs