Culture Refers to the Shared Notions - Essay Example

Ranges of factors such as people, organizations, products, services, and ideas can considerably influence consumer behavior to a large extent. This paper will compare and contrast between a traditional stable environment and a fast pace new world country.

UAE as a cultural melting pot
The melting pot is a modern concept that reflects the transition of a heterogeneous society into a homogeneous one. The culture melting pot refers to the idea of melting different elements of the culture into a harmonious whole. United Arab Emirates (UAE) ruled by emirs is a federation situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula. UAE is an agglomeration of different cultures because more and more people are migrating to the Emirates with the intent to exploit potential opportunities (UAE). Before five to ten years, migrated people in UAE tended to stick to their nationalities. However, the different working conditions have forced people to mingle with groups and share their ideas.

The changes that occurred in consumer behavior are a direct indication of cultural integration in the UAE. The increasing influence of media has also contributed to changes in consumer behavior and thereby cultural integration. As Madore reports in Gulf News.com individuals from different cultures across the world work alongside each other and interact with different cultures; for instance, despite India and Pakistan rivalry, people from both countries are found living in great unity in UAE. However, UAE maintains different rules to deal with different nationalities for specific acts.

Traditional environment vs new world economy
While thinking about how learning is “learned” in a traditional stable environment vs a fast pace new world economy, one must take the tremendous changes that occurred in cultural influence into account. The power distance and elements of individualism and collectivism have largely varied in the new world economy as compared to the traditional environment (Chapter 16-6). Cultures are integrated and people are sharing their ideas in the fast pace new world economy. Consumers tend to learn from every message that is provided by marketers. In the olden days, consumers did not get much opportunity to differentiate products and services due to conventional business practices; therefore, the traditional environment remained stable as well. According to Fullerton, modern marketers largely employ the elements of myths and stories understanding their influence on consumer behavior. At the same time, the product that succeeded in one culture may fail in another if the marketers cannot effectively identify the cultural variances (chapter 17-3). American culture has gained a dominating influence around the world as the country could effectively communicate its cultural elements. In short, various cultural elements play a crucial role in the modern economy in creating global consumers. Compared to a traditional stable environment, modern consumers are more responsive since they can easily grasp different messages delivered by marketers. To be specific, “learn is learned” more effectively in a fast pace new market than in a traditional stable environment.

Culture and consumer behavior
Culture and consumer behavior are two interrelated concepts according to which variance in culture can have a direct impact on consumer behavior, and this is the reason why the same products get different responses from different markets. Despite the changes in customer perceptions, some conventional rules are strictly followed even in this modern era. Even today, consumer behavior is affected by some conventional views which are highly associated with religion and culture.

Conclusion
The above discussion points out that the changes that occurred in consumer behavior can be attributed to variance in cultural notions to some extent. However, to be an exception, UAE is a cultural melting pot where people are more receptive to communicating with individuals who maintain similar views regardless of their differences in culture or region. At the same time, irrespective of the changes they still tend to follow their cultural notions.