Cross Culture Marketing strategy2 - Article Example

Cross-Cultural Marketing Management Strategies For reasons of character evaluation, entertainment and gift giving are very much appreciated in a collectivist culture. A collectivist culture focuses on benefits for the group and not for each individual member, and it is not surprising that collectivists are careful in choosing possible business partners. Unlike individualists, collectivists consider friendship and social bonding important. To ensure that a business relationship will successfully flourish, collectivists view social engagements as a means of establishing long term friendships.

For this reason, collectivists “seek out relationships more out of desire than need” (James 2). They tend to take steps of the business context to make sure that relationships do not stop at just being business partners, but establishes allegiances as well. They believe that this method results to the establishment of harmonious relationships, with trust and loyalty, and eventually leads to a successful business relationship, where conflicts are resolved through mediation. For collectivists, “hasty litigation may be interpreted as uncompromising and self-oriented” (5), a big deviation from their sense of affective commitment, where business partners are treated as family.

Entertainment, in the form of wining and dining is “a means of gauging the other party’s values, trustworthiness, and willingness to compromise” (2). This way, a possible business partner can be gauged or assessed according to his behavior not just as a possible business partner but a man and a future friend and “family” since “collectivists operate on solidarity and share values” (4).Gift-giving on the other hand, is viewed by collectivists as a positive gesture. It is an expression of the “desire for partnership success” (James 5).

Partnership success in a collectivist’s view means a lasting and enduring relationship with a sense of duty and obligation to each other (2). For a collectivist, “investments in time, energy and resources were acknowledged as pledges or signals to the buyer that the supplier was benevolent” (5).2. In a collectivist culture, decisions are made collectively by senior members (James 2) and information sharing is of utmost importance. Being relationally oriented (1), with trust, commitment, cooperation, loyalty and obligation to his organization, it is not surprising that collectivist cultures rely more heavily on the use of social media.

In high-context cultures, people prefer a less explicit form of communication (5). They prefer indirect messaging (6) which means you need say or request that the information be passed. Since a collectivist culture’s aim is the welfare of the group, information that they get from the social media, when found useful will automatically be forwarded to other members of the group. In social media, collectivists are able to look for and assess context, hidden meanings and relationship and emotional subtleties.

The importance of what the media conveys, such as sensitivity to target audience’s feelings and other such considerations, and establishment of trust in the owner or distributor that media is sharing is of utmost importance.Collectivists focus more on the symbolisms (6) and the way the product or the information is presented than that of the information itself as it tells more about the presenter or the distributor, his character not only as a businessman, but as a man. The way the information is delivered is a basis for a collectivist to assess whether the company or distributor of said product is a possible partner or not, or whether the group will benefit from it.

In social media, an all out campaign is used in order to be able to introduce, show and tell something about the product. Since cross-culture marketing has come out and was given emphasis in the business world, social media has been sensitive enough to consider the cultural values of their target group. Collectivists take advantage of this and thus value social media as a tool in conducting business and as a source of valuable information.Works CitedBarry, James M. “Cross Cultural Marketing Management Strategies”.

Background for MKT 5833 Individual Assignment 1 and 2. n.d. 1-6. Web 22 January 2013.