Self Reference Criterion And An Associated Ethnocentrism Marketing Essay

SRC means to forget about self like if a company is going to some another country then the going company will have to take care about the culture etc of the host country and will have to forget about own culture.

e.g.: Like McDonalds when entered India they sold product aloo tikki burger inspite of their beef burger.

The primary obstacles to success in international marketing are a person¿½s self reference criterion (SRC) and an associated ethnocentrism. SRC is an unconscious reference to one¿½s own cultural values, experiences, and Knowledge as a basis for decisions. Closely connected is ethnocentrism, that is, the notion that one¿½s own culture or company knows best how to do things.

NOTE:

To counter the impact of the self-reference criterion, the corporation must select appropriate personnel for international assignments and engage in sensitivity training

CROSS CULTURE ANALYSIS:

Cross cultural is a comparison of a culture with one or more other cultures. the purpose is to provide detailed information about the development of others in their own cultures and compare this development across cultures. The comparison looks at not only what is different between the cultures, but also what is similar or universal among them.

EXAMPLE

1. Honda introduced their new car “Fitta” into Nordic countries in 2001. If they had taken the time to undertake some cross cultural marketing research they may have discovered that “fitta” was an old word used in vulgar language to refer to a woman’s genitals in Swedish, Norwegian and Danish. In the end they renamed it “Honda Jazz”.

2. In 2002, Umbro the UK sports manufacturer had to withdraw its new trainers (sneakers) called the Zyklon. The firm received complaints from many organisations and individuals as it was the name of the gas used by the Nazi regime to murder millions of Jews in concentration camps.

(http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/cultural-services/articles/crosscultural-marketing.html)

Hofstede dimensions to distinguish between cultures:

1.POWER DISTANCE

2.INDIVIDUALISM

3. UNCERTAINITY AVOIDANCE

4. CONFUCIAN DYNAMISM

Culture is the totality of our life style & personality. At a glance is can be said that, culture is that what we are i.e. our way dressings, specking, eating, thinking, learning, attitude, believes, values, norms etc all included in our culture. International marketing is the marketing activities a company outside their country of origin.

Culture has a great impact on international marketing. A marketer must have to study about the local culture in-depth before offering a product to them. Because of every marketing promotion has done to promote the product i.e. communicating product feature to the customers and influence customers to buy it.

To have an effective communication one must send the message according to the receiver’s culture, customs and learning process. There are some major barriers by which effective communication can be hampered. self reference criterion (SRC) and Ethnocentrism can make the effort worthless.

It is human nature that, everything want to judge according to self learning process and Cultural measurement. But a single thing can have different meaning in different culture. For example showing thumb carries the signal of all right to the western but it carries a serious negative meaning to the Bengali rural people.

For this reason a marketer in international market must have to convert his all thinking into the culture of the local people. Sometime marketer fails to make this conversion successfully as a result they fail to have local people attention and make huge loss.

ETHNOCENTRICSM:

Ethnocentrism is generally a problem when managers from affluent countries work with managers and markets in less wealthy countries. Both the SRC and ethnocentrism impede the ability to assess a foreign market in its true light.

Ethnocentrism and the SRC can influence an evaluation of the appropriateness of a domestically designed marketing mix for a foreign market. If US marketers are not aware, they might evaluate a marketing mix based on US experiences (i.e. their SRC) without fully appreciating the cultural differences that require adaptation.

EXAMPLE:

Esso, the brand name of a gasoline, was a successful name in the United States and would seem harmless enough for foreign countries; however in Japan the name phonetically means stalled car an undesirable image for gasoline.

For examples In US culture, a person¿½s SRC would not reveal a problem with either Esso , but in international marketing, relying on one¿½s SRC could produce an inadequately adapted marketing program that ends in failure.honetically means stalled car an undesirable image for gasoline.

Why should the international marketer have knowledge of sub cultural groups when attempting to segment markets in a particular country or region. Use examples in your answer.

Ethnocentric Orientation:

1. Characteristic of domestic & international companies

2. Opportunities outside the home market are pursued by

3. Extending various elements of the marketing mix

Polycentric Orientation

1. Characteristic of multinational companies

2. Marketing mix is adapted by autonomous country managers

Regiocentric or Geocentric Orientation:

1. Characteristic of global & transnational companies

2. Marketing opportunities are pursued by both extension &

SUB-CULTURE:

A cultural subgroup differentiated by status, ethnic background, residence, religion, or other factors that functionally unify the group and act collectively on each member.

Culture is the way that we do things around here. Culture could relate to a country (national culture), a distinct section of the community (sub-culture), or an organization (corporate culture). It is widely accepted that you are not born with a culture, and that it is learned. So, culture includes all that we have learned in relation to values and norms, customs and traditions, beliefs and religions, rituals and artefacts.

Therefore international marketing needs to take into account the local culture of the country in which you wish to market.

Culture is what helps us to organize our world and to know how to respond to it. We learn how to relate to other people and how to respond to our environment from our friends and relatives, our teachers and through observation. People who come from different cultures have lived in different parts of the world and have experienced different societies or participated in different institutions (for example, schools or corporations). They are likely to have learned different values, beliefs, behaviors, expectations and norms than you have.

REFERENCING:

Cateora, P.R. & Graham, J.L. (2002) International Marketing, (11th ed.) New York: McGraw-Hill

Chee, H. & Harris, R. (1998) Global Marketing Strategy, London: Financial Times Pitman Publishing.

Doole, I. & Lowe, R. (2001) International Marketing Strategy Analysis, Developmant and Implementation, 3rd Edition, London, Thomson Learning.