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my brother, don rizzle, virtouso!...any other academic or intelligent cats!

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LyRiCaL_G:

--- Quote from: 11z Is Fuckin' Serious About This! on April 08, 2007, 03:13:12 AM ---Ha! You really are taking these projects seriously, and that's mad cool! +1

About culture... Shit, where to start? I'm a student for this (communication: blending the psychological theories with the reality of influencing all kinds of people), but I don't have a clue where to start on international culture...

Basically, you can globally divide peoples cultures into four kinds. There's we-cultures and I-cultures, and they too can be divided into roughly and tightly meshed cultures. In short, these gradations of meshedness define how strict a culture's rules are. Tightly meshed cultures have plenty of unwritten laws that are to be strictly obeyed. They leave little room for personal freedom - that's something these people don't hold tightly onto (ie. Africa and Asia) . Roughly meshed cultures are basically the opposite: there's a lot of individual freedom and not a lot of unwritten laws (ie. North America, Northwest Europe and Australia). We-cultures and I-cultures are based on the aim of importance of the individual in the group process; it's pretty much self explanatory.

If you want me to, I can get pretty deep into the values and reasoning guiding these cultures, as well as defining certain parts of the world more precisely. Thing is, all of this is 'globally accurate', but of course, in roughly meshed cultures the individuals may differ a lot, as does the way they are to be handled. At the same time, tightly meshed cultures require an extremely accurate approach.

As for the influence of culture on global expansion.. Advertising agencies know damn well: in certain situations you can perfectly use one and the same advertising campaign all over the world without having to adapt it to local cultures. A perfect example of this comes from these Coca Cola Christmas advertisements: because of globalism and a growing sense for American values across the world, people all over the world enjoy these ads and they're perfectly able to put it in the right frame of mind. This has enabled Coca Cola to maintain one specific image globally.
At the same time, companies like McDonalds do need specific strategies when approaching people all over the world: someone in Indonesia looks differently at a hamburger than someone in Iceland or Costa Rica.

Anyway, some aspects to take into consideration when judging cultures internationally:

Basic values
What's the nature of mankind?
What's the relationship between individuals?
What motivates people?
How do people feel about their connection to their environment?
What's the relation between man and the supernatural?
Collectivism versus individualism?
Specific versus diffuse
Hierarchy and respect
Particularism versus universalism
Neutral versus emotional
Prestations versus commitment
Feminine versus masculine
Avoidance of uncertainties
Personal space and private territory
Thoughts on past, present and future
Time orientation
Short term verus long term thinking
Conflict handling
Relativating

I know this is a lot to take into consideration, and the theories behind it can be confusing and complicating at times. So if you have any questions about any of this: I'm sure I can help you out, so feel free to ask for further explanations!

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Yoooooooo, mad props on this info, thats pretty deep into info man and thanks for the other stuff you pointed out too, ive been checkin up on certain ones since you mentioned it!
yo that "communication: blending the psychological theories with the reality of influencing all kinds of people" stuff you be learning sounds crazy man!

yo just a few things homie, you said you could go a lil further into what you mean about how different cultures behave like they do....explaining why is it they act like they do and so on...could you like you said, further expand on that a lil bit....kinda like even though europe and north america have the same values pretty much....as in they both have a mindstate which would be considered "western"....(thats true right?)....would you say the states is a more I culture and europe is a more collectivist culture....and how do we all compare to countries like china and japan....and where do places like russia and korea fit into this?

Anyway mad props dawg, yo man me writing on a message does not show how much i appreciate y'all droppin some knowledge for me!

oh and what do you mean by the following...

relation between man and supernatural
Prestations versus commitment
Avoidance of uncertainties
Relativating (what does this mean?)


mad props and peace!

LyRiCaL_G:

--- Quote from: Don Rizzle on April 08, 2007, 04:42:52 AM ---This is not really my area so I can't be as helpful as before but the post above is pretty good. but off the top my head I remember reading last year I think the mens magazine FHM or one of them launched in India and it caused them alot of trouble because of content (ie women with no clothes on), but it was all a bit of a hypocracy because there were already indian mags which should the same stuff or even more, however they hadn't recieved the same publicity - this maybe an interesting one to talk about if you can find out about how they are doing now. It may turn out that all the contreversy helped promote the magazine which is quite often the case.

one thing recently which has crossed cultural boundaries is pop idol pretty much every country has their own version, infact in siberia when it is on crime rates actually drop because so many people watch it.

I used to work for JPMorgan which is a global investment bank, they would put alot of money into activities to encourage people to socialise with the colleagues out of work to build better relationships, they were usually heavily family focused too, also they would send you to meet the people who you work with but are based in other countries in order to build better relationships and understand each other better, it was all part of a fusing process to make you act as one even thoough you are physically seperated. all this would go toward creating a global culture rather than an us and them culture.

Oh yes another example to look into i just thought of was i think DaimlerChrysler last year their americanchief economist was critcising the move towards greener cars thinking big 4x4 etc. will come back into fashion while their german counterparts were particularly enthusiastic about making greener cars, what do you do about this clash of cultural attitudes when you own a global business??
just found a link to the story http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6247371.stm

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yo props don rizzle, you always come with some shit to speak on! always appreciate the examples too....damn i dunno why i am doing this subject...its way to diverse!

pz!

LyRiCaL_G:

--- Quote from: virtuoso on April 08, 2007, 07:55:16 AM ---Jesus this is such a multi faceted question where to start...well firstly I think you need to have a clear definition in your mind of what culture is and then you can expand out from that. Here is a good quote which basically encapsulates what culture is about and you should probably use this quote within your assignment English Anthropologist Edward B. Tylor in his book, Primitive Culture, published in 1871.  Tylor said that culture is "that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society." 

However I think though this a good starting block it only skims the surface in terms of understanding.
1.   You also need to consider the upbringing of these people in terms of their lifestyle
2.   In terms of what messages been instilled into them
3.   In terms of their conformity
4.   What drives these people
5.   Are they are a collection of individuals or are they primarily an easily identifiable group?
6.   what are their needs (Hierarchy of needs)
7.   Is the culture stagnant or is it ever changing
8.   How will people interpret messages
9.   What effect will language have on their understanding
10.   How will the marketing mix be affected
11.   How does religion affect these people lives? What is their religion, are they secular.
12.   Has the culture reached a level of conformity or is the culture unique? i.e. if the country has been so called Americanised then the culture has reached a level of conformity, similarly though an Islamic culture resists such culture.
13.   Personal sensitivities
14.   Social sensitivities
15.   Is the culture deeply rooted in isolationism or does it embrace other cultures. I should probably elaborate on this a little because it does sound very ambiguous lol. Basically is there a culture to support and thereby protect national business and resist outside businesses.
16.   How will legislation affect how a product or service can be sold, what products can be sold, will the product have to be modified?
17.   Language barriers
18.   When considering knowledge it's not purely from a customer point of view you also need to consider knowledge when focusing on who would get employed should the business expand it's physical operations into other countries.

Basically I think you need to try and take all of the points that have been noted so far and try and branch out from them, consider the impact, the implications, the opportunities, the problems that arise from that.
P.S I realise this becomes quite heavy in depth but if it helps try and relate all of the points that have been raised alongside the 8p's of the marketing mix Product, Price Philosophy Promotion Place, People Physical Evidence Processes.

Here is a link which gives you a very brief summary of each of the above http://members.aol.com/volsector/market.htm however I would recommend that you only use this to give yourself a rough idea and then hit the library to find some books which cover the marketing mix in much more depth. By the way no need to apologise for asking for help business studies, marketing etc is a bitch lol.

Hope this helps.


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yooooo y'all know way too much about this! ahaha! nah mad props on the real though, y'all dropped mad ideas for me to think about! got to agree about business studies, marketing and management and so on mang, its really ....different to what i had expected,haha......

Anyway yo mad props y'all! i appreciate all the info!

pz!

LyRiCaL_G:
yo by the way....what y'all doing on a hiphop website mang....aint y'all a bit to clever to be here? haha....notice the steriotyping....thats kinda part of understanding and measuring culture right?

Elevz:

--- Quote from: LyRiCaL_G on April 09, 2007, 10:01:23 AM ---yo that "communication: blending the psychological theories with the reality of influencing all kinds of people" stuff you be learning sounds crazy man!
--- End quote ---

Haha, that's a description I use to define my education. It's mad interesting indeed - I love it!

Now first up, the defenitions you asked for:


--- Quote from: LyRiCaL_G on April 09, 2007, 10:01:23 AM ---oh and what do you mean by the following...

relation between man and supernatural
Prestations versus commitment
Avoidance of uncertainties
Relativating (what does this mean?)
--- End quote ---

Relation between man and the supernatural: how do people in certain cultures look towards the position of man towards a certain divine force? Like Christians go to Church on Sunday and they pray before dinner, while in some African tribes the young boys have to go through torture to show the gods they're ready to be considered a man and ready to go hunting. What do divine powers mean to the people in cultures, and what role do these gods have in their daily life?

Prestation versus commitment: to put it plain and simple, the word commitment is not a good translation I made for this, so let me explain what's actually meant by "Prestatie - toeschrijving" as my lecture puts it. I guess it should have been called Prestations versus ascibed status.
The question here is, do people acquire status through what they do, or what they are? In prestation cultures, you'll be judged by your personal achievements, whereas in ascribing cultures it's more about your ancestors and your social network. It's the difference between asking a person what he did for college (prestation culture), or judging him by where he went to college and who his dad is.

The way people go around uncertainties in life is actually culturally determined. Some cultures feel a stronger resentment towards the unknown than others. This is reflected in the way people behave towards taking / avoiding risks and decisionmaking when it comes to your career for example. "Western" people, as you put it, generally have a higher acceptance of risks, which is easily explained by the highly raised bars for success society sets us. We want to shine individually, and so we take a lot of risks on the way. We go out bungeejumping for adrenaline rushes and to be considered brave, and we jump at sudden opportunities when it comes to our careers. In other cultures young people are much more likely to simply follow up their father in trade.

Last point: relativity. That's a philosophical thing, about the way people moderate all the things that go on in life. In simple words: what does the world mean to them, and how do they respond to it? It's more or less a gathering of some of the other aspects.


--- Quote from: LyRiCaL_G on April 09, 2007, 10:01:23 AM ---yo just a few things homie, you said you could go a lil further into what you mean about how different cultures behave like they do....explaining why is it they act like they do and so on...could you like you said, further expand on that a lil bit....kinda like even though europe and north america have the same values pretty much....as in they both have a mindstate which would be considered "western"....(thats true right?)....would you say the states is a more I culture and europe is a more collectivist culture....and how do we all compare to countries like china and japan....and where do places like russia and korea fit into this?
--- End quote ---

Western Europe, North America and Australia are the roughly meshed areas in this world. Latin America, Mediterranean Europe and Eastern Europe are medium meshed, and Africa and Asia are tightly meshed. That's roughly put, because culture is so hard to measure and there's loads of cultural differences for example between the French and the Irish, even though they both come from roughly meshed cultures.
Some numbers that might be interesting when it comes to defining I-cultures and We-cultures (source: Hofstede):
The most individualistic country in the world is the USA, with a "individualism index" score of 91. The least individualistic country is Guatemala, with a score of 6.
Australia: 90
Great Brittain: 89
Australian Aboriginals: 89
Netherlands: 80
Canada: 80
Italy: 76
Belgium: 75
Canada (French speaking): 73
France: 71
Ireland: 70
Germany: 67
South Africa: 65
Spain: 51
Argentina: 46
Iran: 41
Brazil: 38
Turkey: 37
China: 20
South Korea: 18
Taiwan: 17
Colombia: 13

I can add more, if you have any specific countries you want to know about, but those seem the most interesting ones to me. And of course, the lower a country scores in these individualistic numbers, the more of a "we-culture" it has.

Hofstede has put some other definitions to measure culture, other than the individualism index: they are the indexes for hierarchy/respect, masculinity/femininity, uncertainty avoidance, and long term orientation.

Sweden is the most feminine country in the world, with a masculinity score of 5. Slovakia is by far the most masculine country in the world (110). That's an odd conclusion, because these countries are relatively near each other. Japan was the only country coming close to Slovakia, with a score of 95.

Singapore (8.) and Jamaica (13) are countries where people don't mind uncertainties in life. Uruguay (100) and Portugal (104) are the countries with the most avoidance of uncertainties. Countries like the USA (46), Great Britain (35), Netherlands (53), Germany (66) etc. are "average" when it comes to this. Basically you could say that the higher the value of this index number, the more conservative the culture of a country is. An odd side note: Japan scores 92 while China scores 30.

When it comes to hierarchy and respect, Malaysia (104), Slovakia (104) and Guatemala (110) are countries where hierarchy and respect are extremely important. Denmark (18) gets an extremely low score compared to other European countries (GER 35, GB 35, NL 38, FR 68, IT 50, etc). Lower importance of hierarchy and respect is to be found in Isreal (13) and Austria (11).

The whole index of "long term orientation" was invented long after the other four indexes, so the calculations for that aspect are rather incomplete. China (118) scores extremely high, while Australian Aboriginals (-10) and Pakistan (0) get extremely low scores. Most "western" countries (USA: 29) get average scores for this: their economies are well established and perhaps these nations are even overheated when it comes to the quest for success, welfare and future planning. The culture of the Chinese obviously hasn't reached that point yet: they're constantly looking to expand the horizon.

Now, there's one last thing I'd like to say about public and private areas, because even though some countries seemingly get identical scores in all of these indexes, they may differ a lot in reality. I learned about an example where the French, Germans and the Irish are compared when it comes to the acceptance of guests all over their house. In the following list, you'll find what areas they consider private, and what areas guests are welcome to:
Garden: French: Public, Germans: Public, Irish: Public
Couch: French: Public, Germans: Public, Irish: Public
Working Desk: French: Private, Germans: Private, Irish: Public
TV: French: Private, Germans: Private, Irish: Public
Refigerator: French: Private, Germans: Public, Irish: Public
Bed: French: Private, Germans: Private, Irish: Private
Car: French: Public, Germans: Private, Irish: Private
Shower: French: Private, Germans: Public, Irish: Public
Telephone: French: Private, Germans: Private, Irish: Private

You thought these countries were so close to each other their values were at least very similar? I guess not...

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