Cultural Identity in Product and Service Management - Literature review Example

Name: Professor: Institution: Course: Date: This essay will look at three components of Cultural Identity which are vocation, class and geography and how this are applied by companies in deciding what kind of products or services to create. To create and launch any new product today requires a lot of great people who have different skills and ability to innovate products which are outstanding to the clients. Cultural identity helps individuals to be differentiated from one another in terms of personal identity, personality, style and most importantly uniqueness. (Daphne, 2007) Daphne, (2007) demonstrated that some of the attributes associated with corporate strategy are that it’s closely related with power and privilege. This is because power and privilege may be used by people to control others from knowing their educational class or gender. Emotions are evoked by cultural identity in since different people have negative, neutral or positive feelings about their cultural identity. Cultural identity also changes with time as we have seen with the diversity of leaders who travel to foreign countries to undertake leadership positions. Often close relationships for instances of people married from different races, tend to adopt the others cultural identity. . A number of studies have been carried out with the aim of distinguishing the different components of cultural identity under vocation but the all round up to occupational field, profession category, employing organization and subunit of Organization. Kuhn (2002) stated that individuals who work in subunits for a lengthy period of time often develop strong relationships in relation to the cultural identity, values and norms. For example people who are in law profession adhere to a particular oath because of their profession which requires great integrity and confidentiality. Engineers can develop offices specifically for legal practitioners, for example in 2008, there were eight legal aid commissions, nine government solicitor offices and nine public prosecutor offices in Australia. Berry (2000) found that students who were in management that dealt with values in business relations which diminished nationality businesses. The communication used by the different professions often cuts barriers of communication in terms of ethnicity and culture. Other professions which include the hospitality industry use the same communication to discuss medical terms and their culture involves dressing in white coats. (Fine, 1996). Vocational fields such as agriculture and social work acts as a cultural identity because they work together in the same field which encourages traditions and different attitudes. Agriculture alone in U.S accounts for 4% of the country’s GDP and Venezuela exports tropical fruits and fish. U.S firms exports approximately agricultural products worth $ 967 million. Companies can thus manufacture products that are cost effective and export them to developing countries. (Infoplease, 2011) There are normally different classes of people such as the economic class, social and educational. Education class binds people together through research and hence it cuts across ethnic barriers of communication. We have Companies that target the social class of celebrities, Institutions of higher learning taking MBA or Universities and wealthy rich class. Majority of celebrities are concerned with very expensive products and they have adapted to a culture that binds them together. (Daphne, 2007) A company may envision targeting a specific class of individuals by infiltrating a market that has yet to benefit from the new products. Celebrities enjoy products such as perfumes, designer shoes, and fleet of sleek cars, designer outfits and condors. For example Chanel No. 5 Cologne by Nicole Kidman which is among the top ten perfumes of celebrities. The number of Universities has also been on the increase and this clearly shows that the number of educational students in on the increase. Thus Companies strategizing to target the educational class have an opportunity for growth and product development. The U.S department of Education statistics records that there are currently more than 7, 000 higher education institutions with more than 15 million students in the U.S. (Brain track, 2011) The geographical area depends on the number of population and boundaries within a region or state in creation of cultural identity. The density of population depends with the area covered in the rural, small towns, urban and semi- urban areas. The more an area is densely populated the more a product has the capability of being launched to increase the market and increase profitability. The distribution of products also depends entirely on the number of people in preparation of logistics and distribution channels. The common outlook and tradition of each city is represented by the different cultures practiced by the residents such as New Orleans and Paris. (Daphne, 2007) The nationality of the people will go a long way to increase the cultural attitudes and practices which determine the kind of products or services to be developed. For instance products are adopted fast in Japan and the United States and thus the same market potential may exist in other countries. (Matt, 2011) Decision making together with corporate strategy go a long way to account for cultural differences related to the geographical density. As at 2009, 1st July the number of black residents in the U.S was approximately 13.6% of the total population which is more than half a million within a year. (Infoplease, 2011) It’s apparent that the kind of services demanded by the black Americans may to some extent differ from other races. Culture is viewed as very important because it’s learned and not born with, it’s comprehensive in the essence that all parts fit together as one and it’s manifested in areas of acceptable behavior with boundaries such as walking round naked. (Lars, 2011) In conclusion, Companies can evaluate the different cultural identities that promote product development with minimal cost expenditures. For instances the class of individuals is an area that can well be used to cultivate a long term relationship with the customers. The customer is always right and with the rapid increase in telecommunication technology, people have become more diverse and adventures with innovation. The Business executives should invest in innovation and research and development of individual’s cultural identity to alleviate production of obsolete products and services. Culture entirely is a major dependant on product development in terms of procedure and etiquette because some cultures have formed more rigid procedures than other countries. In U.S we know that people who work hard and get ahead in terms of life expectations which are a belief that people want to be associated with. References Berry M. et. al.(2000); Business vs Cultural frames of reference in group decision making. Journal of Business Communication 37(3). 264-292 Braintrack( 2011); Background on Higher Education in the U.S “A comprehensive guide to United States colleges and universities, since 1996. ”FutureMELD, LLC. BrainTrack Daphne, A. (2007); Reconceptualizing cultural identity and its role in intercultural Business Communication. Journal of Business Communication. 44(3), 210 - 225 Fine G.A, (1996); Kitchens: The culture of restaurant work. Berkeley. University of California Press. Infoplease, 2011); “African Americans by the Numbers.”” Information Please® Database, © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Kuhn T. (2002); Reengineering Identity; A case study of multiplicity duality in organizational Identification. Management Communication Quarterly. 16(1), 5-38 lars perner ( 2011); international marketing. Available at: Retrieved on 5th September 2011 Matt (2011): 12 steps of creating a professional web design. Copyright 2006-2011 CHROMATIC Inc.. Retrieved on 5th September 2011 from; http://www.chromaticsites.com/blog/12-steps-to-creating-a-professional-web-design/ vince moriarty ( 2011); wow professions: add depth and earning potential. Available at Retrieved on 5th September 2011 Read More