Essay on Globalization: Unifying Cultures and Changing Buyer Behaviour

The world has become a global world. Cultures from different parts of the world are continuously being interconnected through the sharing of social and cultural aspects. To the business sector, the interconnection of cultures means that there is a larger customer target from the different countries and continents. However, as described by Hofstede, people are in most cases immersed into culture to the minor details, which therefore, makes them blind to the resulting changes in their buyer behavior and attitudes (Fang, 2003). It is essential, however, to overcome cultural blindness and understand how believes affect the thinking pattern. Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions, therefore, describes cultural differences across the world and how they affect business.

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Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions focuses on classifying countries based on their culture. These classifications are referred as ranks and are used to define the behavior and pattern of thinking. Hofstede's theory states that there are six dimensions of culture: power distance, long-term/short-term orientation, individualism/collectivism, masculinity/femininity, uncertainty avoidance, restraint/indulgence (Fang, 2003).

The first cultural dimension is power distance. In this concept, Hofstede focuses on the perception of power distribution in the society and how the less powerful view the power distribution (Yu, 2006). Hofstede states that a country with a high degree of power distance, the people accept that a hierarchy should naturally exist, where everyone holds their place in the society. In this case, the society appreciates the distribution of power and regards it as a normal procedure that needs no justification. Such countries with a high degree of power distances includes Saudi Arabia and China. On the other hand, countries with a low power distance strives to achieve equal distribution and fails to understand why some people in the society are more powerful than others. In most cases, developing countries constitute to the majority of cultures with a low power distance.

The second cultural dimension discusses the concept of uncertainty avoidance. Horfsteder approaches uncertainty avoidance as the rate at which the decisions of the members in the society are determined by the uncertainty of the future. The author states that there are societies that have weak uncertainty avoidance. In this case, such a society is characterized by involvement in high risk activities, flexibility in their decisions, and a high level of tolerance towards contrasting opinions. Such societies include the United States and France. On the other hand, some societies have a strong uncertainty avoidance. Such societies are characterized by risk avoidance behavior, clear structures of behavior, consensus, and adherence to the authority. Most societies in the Middle East are considered to have a strong uncertainty avoidance.

The third concept focuses on individualism vs Collectivism. According to Hordsteder, this principle defines the extent at which the members of the society are likely to stay in a group. Individualism in a society is characterized by focus on self-benefiting schemes, emphasis on self-enjoyment and pleasure, value independence, focus on horizontal relationships such as between a man and a woman and uniqueness in beliefs (Yo et al., 2011). On the other hand, societies that focus on collectivity are characterized by: collective considerations, distribution and sharing of resources, favors towards groups, concentration on harmony, behavior control, and collaboration.

The other principle described by Horfsteder is masculinity vs femininity. In this concept, the role of emotions in genders is investigated. In Masculine cultures, there are clear gender roles, the male gender is expected to be tough and associated with control, there is a connection between wealth and male, benevolence is considered irrelevant, and there is a high value associated with mastery of skills. In feminine cultures, there are no clear gender roles, increased attraction to non-materialistic aspects of the society, the character and desires of a husband are similar to that of a boyfriend, and both genders are considered as complimenting each other.

In long term vs long term orientation, Horfsteder uses the Confucian dynamism to describe societies. In this case, the focus is on the relationships within the society that ensures equality and emphasis on virtues. In the long-term orientation, the society tends to be future oriented, builds relationships, emphasis on patience and persistence, and appreciation to growth. The short-term orientation, on the other hand, focus on the past and the future, focuses on culture, brand protection, emphasis on quick success, personal stability, and there is less appreciation on gradual growth.

The final principle of the Horfsteder's approach to culture is indulgence vs restraint. The main focus here is on the level of a society's happiness (Feng & Yuguan, 2002). In a restraint society, there is a high level of people holding back in self-gratification activities such as partying. On the other hand, a society that practices indulgence allows its members to freely involve themselves with gratification of personal and body pleasures.

Based of Hofstede's dimensions of culture, societies can be ranked on a scale from 1 to 120. The ranking, however, is made as per every principle. For example, the developing countries such as in Africa and Asia are ranked highly in power distance, with Nigeria having a score of 100. On the other hand, countries like Saudi Arabia has a score of 8. The United States, on the other hand, has a ranking of 40 (Kim & Kim, 2010). In other principles such as individualism vs centralism, there is a low index in Africa and Asia, while developed economies such as Europe and North America have extremely high indexes.

The classification of culture has relevant effects on the marketing concept. In most cases, the organization will focus on the culture of a particular market in the development of its marketing mix, marketing, and even packaging. For example, a society with a high individualism index will tend to buy products in small scale rather than in bulk. This is because the members of the society are inclined to spend on either themselves or their spouses. To the organization, such a society needs packed take away products and literally no serving tables meant for families. However, the opposite would be true in a society that have a high collective index.

The Horsteder concept of classifying societies in six principles is of immense significance to the business sector. As organizations targets new markets, it is essential for the management to understand the main behaviors in the society that influence their attitudes and decision making. In particular, the theory is essential to the marketing department as products needs to be tailored to meet the needs of the people. As culture takes a significant place in most societies, it is necessary, therefore, to understand the ways in which it impacts business.

References

Fang, T. (2003). A critique of Hofstede's fifth national culture dimension. International journal of cross-cultural management, 3(3), 347-368.

Kim, Y., & Kim, S. Y. (2010). The influence of cultural values on perceptions of corporate social responsibility: Application of Hofstede's dimensions to Korean public relations practitioners. Journal of business ethics, 91(4), 485-500.

Wu, M. (2006). Hofstede's cultural dimensions 30 years later: A study of Taiwan and the United States. Intercultural communication studies, 15(1), 33.

Pheng, L. S., & Yuquan, S. (2002). An exploratory study of Hofstede's crosscultural dimensions in construction projects. Management Decision.

Yoo, B., Donthu, N., & Lenartowicz, T. (2011). Measuring Hofstede's five dimensions of cultural values at the individual level: Development and validation of CVSCALE. Journal of international consumer marketing, 23(3-4), 193-210.