Abstract

The people living in a particular society hold many core beliefs and values that tend to persist. In the Marketing management it’s the interesting topic for study because almost all nationalities are different from each other by their own culture. This paper is regarding to cultural differences and attempting to give more explanation about consumer core beliefs and values. An important first step to successful global marketing is to understand the similarities and dissimilarities of values between cultures. Geert-Hofstede once determined the cultural dimension by six types. Whit the help of the Hofsted model Chinese and United States communities will compare by 5 cultural dimensions. These two big nationalities are the main market of every business. Also it including the examples how companies running their business in these two countries. If I want to do sell in country which hold many core beliefs and values firstly I will define culture characteristic and their values and beliefs after that using their core values and beliefs I will build strong marketing advertisement

Table of Content

1. Introduction

2. Discussion

2.1 What are core beliefs and values?

2.2 What is Geert-Hofstede model?

2.3 How different are they in particular society?

3. Conclusion

4. References

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Introduction

If I want to do sell in country which hold many core beliefs and values firstly I will define culture characteristic and their values and beliefs after that using their core values and beliefs I will build strong marketing advertisement which might be suitable among them.

Marketing managers and researchers have long been interested in the genesis of consumer core value and beliefs. In 21st century, doing business in particular area became art because the people living in different society hold many core beliefs and values. Many global companies which are successfully running their business in many countries already had understood that learning customer beliefs and values are they key of success. The belief and value components refer to the accumulated feelings and priorities that individuals have about “thing” and possessions. More precisely beliefs consist of the very large number of mental or verbal statement (i.e. “I believe…..”) that reflect a person’s particular knowledge and assessment of something.More generally belief and value are just one part of culture. Culture will be defined as a “the sum of learned beliefs, values, and customs that serve to direct consumer behavior of members of particular society.”

Cultural studies as an academic discipline is more highly developed in some countries than others. Much of the research in marketing centers on understanding cultural values as like as a cultural differences. Cross-cultural differences is a legacy of the work of Hofstede who generated probably the most influential work in the field. The use of cultural indices or individual self reports as measures the extent to which the culture of one country is similar or different from another. In Culture’s Consequences, the cultures of 93 countries were positioned on six dimensions. As in communication, negotiation and management, the Six dimensions model is very useful in international marketing too because it defines national values not only in business context but in general.. As companies try to adapt their products and services to local habits and preferences they have to understand the specificity of their market.

The Core beliefs and values

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People in a given society hold many core beliefs and values. Their core beliefs and values have a high degree of persistence. Core Beliefs and Values are passed on from parents to children and reinforced by schools, churches, business and government

Values and beliefs are things that consumers hold special to them.The values of systems of consumers form their opinions, influence their decisions and motivate their actions. Individual consumers and groups of consumers have special values based on several factors and there is often a diverse range of values within a market.

Examples of values include: Honesty. Telling the truth and not trying to mislead others.

Integrity. Being a person who can be trusted and relied on by others.

Fair dealing. Not taking advantage of others or ripping people off.

Consideration of others. Respecting and having concern for the welfare and feeling of others.

Values are not tastes and preferences of a consumer, quantities of something or advantages and disadvantages of alternatives.

Factors of Consumer ValuesSeveral factors may contribute to the formation of values:

Upbringing. Family and the conditions of one's childhood are the largest contributors to forming values. Parents teach children what is acceptable to do.

Culture. Practices and traditions formed for survival and identity influence decisions, even a situation changes.

Mass media. Movies, television, radio, the Internet and other mass media all contribute to what is acceptable and fashionable.

Religion. The beliefs of a consumer influence their decision tremendously. For example, many religions have beliefs on what is acceptable to eat.

Peer pressure. Conforming to the social expectations causes people to make certain choices.

BackgroundThe first step to successful cross-cultural marketing is to understand cultural differences (Briley and Aaker, 2006; Lillis and Tian, 2010). The reasoning is that consumers

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grow up in a particular culture and become accustomed to that culture's value systems, beliefs, and perception processes. Consequently, they respond to advertising messages that are congruent with their culture, rewarding advertisers who understand that culture and tailor ads to reflect its values (Cheng and Schweitzer, 1996; Culter and Javalgi,1992, Desmarais, 2007). Albers-Miller’s (1996) study of 55 country pairs indicates that similar cultures have similar advertising

contentand dissimilar societies have dissimilar advertising content.Hofstede’s cultural dimension theoryCross-cultural differences are a legacy of the work of Hofstede who generated probably the most influential work in the field. The use of cultural indices or individual self reports as measures the extent to which the culture of one country is similar or different from another. In Culture’s Consequences, the cultures of 93 countries were positioned on six dimensions. As in communication, negotiation and management, the Six dimensions model is very useful in international marketing too because it defines national values not only in business context but in general.. As companies try to adapt their products and services to local habits and preferences they have to understand the specificity of their market.For example, if you want to market cars in a country where the uncertainty avoidance is high, you should emphasize on their safety, whereas in other countries you may base your advertisement on the social image they give you. Cell phone marketing is another interesting example of the application of Hofstede’s model for cultural differences: if you want to advertise cell phones in China, you may show a collective experience whereas in the United States you may show how an individual uses it to save time and money. The variety of application of Hofstede’s abstract theory is so wide that it has even been translated in the field of web designing in which you have to adapt to national preferences according to cultures’ values.Dimensions of national culturesPower distance index (PDI): “Power distance is the extent to which the less powerful members of organizations and institutions (like the family) accept and expect that power is distributed unequally.” Cultures that endorse low power distance expect and accept power relations that are more consultative or democratic. People relate to one another more as equals regardless of formal positions. Subordinates are more comfortable with and demand the right to contribute to and critique the decision making of those in power. In high power distance countries, less powerful accept power relations that are more autocratic and paternalistic. Subordinates acknowledge the power of others simply based on where they are situated in certain formal, hierarchical positions. As such, the power distance index Hofstede defines does not reflect an objective difference in power distribution, but rather the way people perceive power differences.

Individualism (IDV) vs. collectivism: “The degree to which individuals are integrated into groups”. In individualistic societies, the stress is put on personal achievements and individual rights. People are expected to stand up for themselves and their immediate family, and to choose their own affiliations. In contrast, in collectivist societies, individuals act predominantly as members of a life-long and cohesive group or organization (note: “The word collectivism in this sense has no political meaning: it refers to the group, not to the state”). People have large extended families, which are used as a protection in exchange for unquestioning loyalty.

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Uncertainty avoidance index (UAI): “a society's tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity”. It reflects the extent to which members of a society attempt to cope with anxiety by minimizing uncertainty. People in cultures with high uncertainty avoidance tend to be more emotional. They try to minimize the occurrence of unknown and unusual circumstances and to proceed with careful changes step by step by planning and by implementing rules, laws and regulations. In contrast, low uncertainty avoidance cultures accept and feel comfortable in unstructured situations or changeable environments and try to have as few rules as possible. People in these cultures tend to be more pragmatic, they are more tolerant of change.

Masculinity (MAS), vs. femininity: “The distribution of emotional roles between the genders”. Masculine cultures’ values are competitiveness, assertiveness, materialism, ambition and power, whereas feminine cultures place more value on relationships and quality of life. In masculine cultures, the differences between gender roles are more dramatic and less fluid than in feminine cultures where men and women have the same values emphasizing modesty and caring. As a result of the taboo on sexuality in many cultures, particularly masculine ones, and because of the obvious gender generalizations implied by Hofstede's terminology, this dimension is often renamed by users of Hofstede's work, e.g. to Quantity of Life vs. Quality of Life.

Long term orientation (LTO), vs. short term orientation: First called “Confucian dynamism”, it describes societies’ time horizon. Long term oriented societies attach more importance to the future. They foster pragmatic values oriented towards rewards, including persistence, saving and capacity for adaptation. In short term oriented societies, values promoted are related to the past and the present, including steadiness, respect for tradition, preservation of one’s face, reciprocation and fulfilling social obligations.

Indulgence vs. restraint: Societies with a high rate of indulgence allow hedonistic behaviors: people can freely satisfy their basic needs and desires. On the opposite side, restraint define societies with strict social norms, where gratification of drives are suppressed and regulated.

What about China?

If we explore the Chinese culture through the lens of the 5-D Model, we can get a good overview of the deep drivers of Chinese culture relative to other world cultures.

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Power distance

At 80 China sits in the higher rankings of PDI – i.e. a society that believes that inequalities amongst people are acceptable. The subordinate-superior relationship tends to be polarized and there is no defense against power abuse by superiors. Individuals are influenced by formal authority and sanctions and are in general optimistic about people’s capacity for leadership and initiative. People should not have aspirations beyond their rank.

 IndividualismAt a score of 20 China is a highly collectivist culture where people act in the interests of the group and not necessarily of themselves. In-group considerations affect hiring and promotions with closer in-groups (such as family) are getting preferential treatment.  Employee commitment to the organization (but not necessarily to the people in the organization) is low. Whereas relationships with colleagues are cooperative for in-groups they are cold or even hostile to out-groups. Personal relationships prevail over task and company.

Masculinity / Femininity

At 66 China is a masculine society –success oriented and driven. The need to ensure success can be exemplified by the fact that many Chinese will sacrifice family and leisure priorities to work. Service people (such as hairdressers) will provide services until very late at night. Leisure time is not so important.  The migrated farmer workers will leave their families behind in faraway places in order to obtain better work and pay in the cities. Another example is that Chinese students care very much about their exam scores and ranking as this is the main criteria to achieve success or not.

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 Uncertainty avoidance   

At 30 China has a low score on uncertainty avoidance. Truth may be relative though in the immediate social circles there is concern for Truth with a capital T and rules (but not necessarily laws) abound.  None the less, adherence to laws and rules may be flexible to suit the actual situation and pragmatism is a fact of life. The Chinese are comfortable with ambiguity; the Chinese language is full of ambiguous meanings that can be difficult for Western people to follow. Chinese are adaptable and entrepreneurial.  At the time of writing the majority (70% -80%) of Chinese businesses tend to be small to medium sized and family owned.

Long term orientation

With a score of 118 China is a highly long term oriented society in which persistence and perseverance are normal. Relationships are ordered by status and the order is observed. Nice people are thrifty and sparing with resources and investment tends to be in long term projects such as real estate. Traditions can be adapted to suit new conditions. Chinese people recognize that government is by men rather than as in the Low LTO countries by an external influence such as God or the law. Thinking ways focus on the full or no confidence, contrasting with low LTO countries that think in probabilistic ways.

What about the USA?

If we explore the US culture through the lens of the 5-D Model, we can get a good overview of the deep drivers of American culture relative to other world cultures.

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Power distance

The United States score low on this dimension (40) which underscores the American premise of “liberty and justice for all.”  This is also evidenced by the focus on equal rights in all aspects of American society and government. Within American organizations, hierarchy is established for convenience, superiors are always accessible and managers rely on individual employees and teams for their expertise.  Both managers and employees expect to be consulted and information is shared frequently.  At the same time, communication is informal, direct and participative.  

Individualism

The United States, with a score of 91 on this dimension, is a highly individualistic culture. This translates into a loosely-knit society in which the expectation is that people look after themselves and their immediate families.  There is also a high degree of geographical mobility in the United States and most Americans are accustomed to doing business with, or interacting, with strangers. Consequently, Americans are not shy about approaching their prospective counterparts in order to obtain or seek information. In the business world, employees are expected to be self-reliant and display initiative.  Also, within the exchange-based world of work, hiring and promotion decisions are based on merit or evidence of what one has done or can do.

Masculinity / Femininity

The United States score 62 on this dimension and is considered a “masculine” society.  Behavior

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in school, work, and play are based on the shared values that people should “strive to be the best they can be” and that “the winner takes all”. As a result, Americans will tend to display and talk freely about their “successes” and achievements in life, here again, another basis for hiring and promotion decisions in the workplace. Typically, Americans “live to work” so that they can earn monetary rewards and attain higher status based on how good one can be.  Conflicts are resolved at the individual level and the goal is to win.

Uncertainty avoidance 

   The US scores 46 on this dimension and therefore, American society is what one would describe as “uncertainty accepting.” Consequently, there is a larger degree of acceptance for new ideas, innovative products and a willingness to try something new or different, whether it pertains to technology, business practices, or foodstuffs.  Americans tend to be more tolerant of ideas or opinions from anyone and allow the freedom of expression.  At the same time, Americans do not require a lot of rules and are less emotionally expressive than higher-scoring cultures.  

Long-term orientation

The United States scores 29 on this dimension and is a short-term oriented culture. As a result, it is a culture focused on traditions and fulfilling social obligations. Given this perspective, American businesses measure their performance on a short-term basis, with profit and loss statements being issued on a quarterly basis.  This also drives individuals to strive for quick results within the work place.  There is also a need to have the “absolute truth” in all matters.

Comparison of China and United States

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This two country is really different with each other by many situation and cases. Above figure is showing that first comparison (PDI) is about Chinese and American people have very long distance about inequality and equality. Chinese are seems inequalities amongst people are acceptable but in the US its less acceptable they believes that everyone under justice are equal. The second, American culture is highly individualistic they prefers self-independent but China is a highly collectivist culture where people act in the interests of the group and not necessarily of themselves. The thirds is almost same they both have average level on this dimension more similar people are tend to be success being and winner. About forth dimension comparison American society is what one would describe as “uncertainty accepting.” Chinese are more likely to be following rules and regulations. From the last 5th dimension we can see the China is a highly long term oriented society in which persistence and perseverance are normal. Relationships are ordered by status and the order is observed. Nice people are thrifty and sparing with resources and investment tends to be in long term projects such as real estate. Traditions can be adapted to suit new conditions. Chinese people recognize that government is by men rather than as in the Low LTO countries such as US by an external influence such as God or the law. Thinking ways focus on the full or no confidence, contrasting with low LTO.

Advertising Appeals

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The second step to successful cross-cultural marketing is to understand a society’s sensitivity to advertising appeals. Advertising appeals are the specific approaches advertisers use to communicate how their products will satisfy customer needs by embedding a culture’s values, norms, and characteristics (Arens and Bovee, 1994; Hornikx and O'Keefe ,2009). The appeals are typically carried in the illustration and headlines of the ad and are supported and reinforced by the ad copy.

Example 1

Socialization agents including parents, friends and teachers, impart the these beliefs to us. Another important type of agent is the media, we learn a lot about a culture’s priorities by looking at the values advertising communicates. Sales strategies differ significantly between the United States and China. U.S. commercials are more likely to present facts about products and suggestions from credible authorities, whereas Chinese advertisers tend to focus more on emotional appeals without bothering too much to substantiate their claims. U.S. ads tend to be young oriented, whereas Chinese ads are more likely to stress the wisdom of older people.

Example 2

Individual behavior is situational; it varies from one situation to another and from one time to another (Markus & Kitayama 1991). The very first words of little children in China are people-related, whereas children in the United States start talking about objects (Tardiff et al. 2008).

Example 3

In the US, popular way of marketing new product is through celebrity endorsement whereas in China using Great wall as their brand name. There are Greet wall Cigar, Greet Wall wines and Greet wall computers.

Example 4The Reader’s Digest Trusted Brands survey in 2002 asked people in 18 different countries in Europe about the probability of buying unknown brands. The responses ‘extremely/quite likely to consider buying a brand which I’ve heard of but haven’t tried before’ correlated significantly with individualism (r = 0.82***).2 Instead of adding abstract characteristics to the product, in collectivistic cultures the brand is linked to concrete persons, in Japan called talents (Praet 2001). Whereas American companies have developed product brands with unique characteristics,Japanese companies have generally emphasised the corporate brand. In essence, this means inspiring trust among consumers in a company and so persuading them to buy its products. As a

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result, Japanese and Korean companies, in their television advertisements, display corporate identity logos more frequently than do US and German companies(Souiden et al. 2006).

Example 5 In collectivistic cultures such as China and Korea, appeals focusing on in-group benefits, harmony and family are more effective, whereas in individualistic cultures like the United States,advertising that appeals to individual benefits and preferences, personal success and independence is more effective (Han & Shavitt 1994). The use of celebrities in advertising is related to collectivism, where the function of a celebrity is to give a face to the brand in a world of brands with similar product attributes (Praet 2001).

Example 6

East Asian collectivists try to display only positive emotions and tend to control negative emotions. Probably this is the reason why, in emotion-recognition studies, Chinese people areless able to identify expressions of fear and disgust (Wang et al. 2006). A comparison of emotion expression across 32 countries showed a significant correlation with individualism for overall emotion expressivity and in particular expressing happiness and surprise (Matsumoto et al. 2008). People also weigh facial cues differently. When interpreting the emotions of others, the Japanese focus more on the eyes, whereas Americans focus on the mouth. This difference may explain why emoticons differ between Japan and the United States (Yuki et al. 2007). Researchers using emoticons– assumed to be more neutral than the faces of real people – shouldbe aware of these differences. As the same expressions may have different meanings in different cultures, this should be an important research area for international advertising researchers.

Conclusion

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The number of cross-cultural consumer behaviour studies has been increasing over the years. The Hofstede model of national culture has proved to be a useful instrument for understanding consumer behavior differences across cultures. Applying the model to entering, advertising, segmenting, positioning which originally sought answers to work-related value differences, needs conceptual insight in the various manifestations that are relevant to these business areas. Niche marketing seems on appropriate method to be employed in this different cultural environment. Niche marketing may help companies to remain among the healthy supervisors. Companies which want to enter, survive, grow and be profitable forced to find the cultural differences among the countries especially illustrate the consumer core beliefs and values. If once company have defined the society core beliefs and values they can build successful relationship among the consumer. From the analyzing all above comparisons between US and China. Chinese people are more social they respect their culture and elders. Chinese young generations love to purchase stuff. Their parents will defer to their children’s need. Also companies must be careful about advertisements because Chinese are embarrassed by ads that display rampant sexuality. And they don’t respond to the sarcastic or the irreverent.

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References

1. Gary Armstrong& Philip Kotler (2011) Marketing 11th edition

2. Micheal R.Solomon (2009) Consumer behavior

3. Rob Harrison, Terry Newholm & Deirdre Shaw (2005) The ethical consumer

4. Dawn Burton (2009) Cross-Cultural Marketing

5. Fons Thrompenaars & Peter Woolliams (2004) Marketing across Culture

6. James Obermayer (2007) Managing Sales leads

7. Malcolm McDonald. Beth Rogers & Diana Woodburn (2000) Key customers

8. Marieke de Mooij & Geert Hofstede (2010) The Hofstede model. Applications to global branding and advertising strategy and research. Journal of Advertising Research

9. Charles Emery & Erskine College (2010) China Compared with the US: Cultural Differences and the Impacts on Advertising Appeals International Journal of China Marketing Vol. 1(1) 2010

10. Donald E. Vinson, Jerome E. Scott & Lawrence M. Lamont The Role of Personal Values in Marketing and Consumer Behavior Journal of Marketing, April 1977

11. http://www.nps.gov/training/uc/whcv.htm

12. http://internationalbusiness.wikia.com/wiki/

13. http://www.presentationpointers.com/showarticle/articleid/377/Costomer Care for All Generations

14. http://open-site.org/Society/Economics/Consumer_Values

15. http://www.freeonlineresearchpapers.com/impact-culture-consumer-behavior

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