CONTENT

1. PART A
 PART

A
“ Theodore Levitt’s seminal article, The
globalization of markets, (Harvard business
review 1983) caused many companies to
examine their international advertising
strategies and to global strategy. What problems
do you see in such an approach?”
INTRODUCTION

Globalization is the system of interaction among the countries of the world in order to
develop the global economy. Globalization refers to the integration of economies and
societies all over the world. It involves technological, economic, political, and cultural
exchanges as a result of advances in communication, transportation, and
infrastructure. Globalization when used in economic context, it refers to the reduction
and removal of barriers between national borders in order to facilitate the flow of
goods, capital, services and labour.(http://hubpages.com/hub/Definition-of-
Globalization)

According to Friedman (1999), globalization is: ”The inexorable integration of markets,

nation states, and technologies to a degree never witnessed before- in a way that is
enabling individuals, corporations and nation-states to reach around the world farther,
faster, deeper and cheaper than before, the spread of free-market capitalism to virtually
every country in the world”.

A Harvard Business Review article by Theodore Levitt, in 1983 started a debate over
how to achieve global coverage. He argued that all the markets should act as one
global market. Due to this the companies had to examine their international
advertising strategies and to adopt a global strategy. In this piece of work concentrate
on globalization involving international advertising and its problems has been
discussed. According to Doyle P. 1982, The international marketer operates within a
more complex and risky financial framework then a company operating with in only
one country. International components of the environment have impact on market
performance including economic, social, culture, regional and financial variables.

INTERNATIONAL ADVERTISING

Interational advertising is one of the predominant strategy in Globalisation. International

advertising can, therefore, be viewed as a communication process that takes place in
multiple cultures that differ in terms of values, communication styles, and
consumption patterns. (http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~sdouglas/rpubs/intad.html).
Due to new companies entering new markets due to globalization of markets there is
intense competition for world markets and increasing sophistication of foreign
consumers have led to a need for more sophisticated advertising strategies.
Reconciling international advertising and sales promotion effort with cultural
uniqueness of markets is a challenge to the international marketer. The basic frame
work and promotion of international advertising that an international advertiser has to
follow are based on the six stages which are as follows: (Terpstra& Sarathy).

1 An information source: an international marketing executive with a product

message to communicate.
2 Encoding: the message from the source converted into effective symbolism for
transmission to receiver.
3 A message channel: the sales force and/or advertising media that conveys the
encoded message to the intended receiver.
4 Decoding: the interpretation of the message by the receiver.
5 Receiver: consumer action by those who receive the message.
6 Feedback: information about the effectiveness of the message, which flows from
the receiver to the sender in order to complete the process.
7 Noise: unpredictable and uncontrollable disturbance in the communication
process which may affect any or all the other six steps in the communication
process.

Of these six steps, developing messages almost always represents the most curtail and
most difficult task for the international marketer. In recent years the companies are
spending more international advertisement in order to capture the market share.

The table below shows the top 20 advertisers:`.

2003 200 Advertiser Headquarters 2003 Percentage Change

1 Procter & Gamble Co. Cincinnati $5,762 29.0
2 Unilever London/Rotterdam 3,540 13.3
3 General Motors Detroit 3,412 4.1
4 Toyota Motor Co. Toyota City 2,669 9.2
5 Ford Motor Co. Detroit 2,537 3.9
6 Time Warner New York 2,378 9.9
7 Daimler-Chrysler Stuttgart/ Detroit 2,230 15.7
8 L’Oreal Paris 2,180 37.3
9 Nestle Vevey, Switzerland 1,737 19.5
 10 Sony Corp Tokyo 1,684 17.7
11 Walt Disney Co. Burbank, CA 1,680 22.4
12 Nissan Motor co. Tokyo 1,674 27.7
13 Johnson & Johnson New Brunswick, NJ 1,665 14.1
14 Honda Motor Co. Tokyo 1,542 6.9
15 ALTRIA GROUP New York 1,514 9.2
16 Volkswagen Wolfsburg, Germany 1,435 13.1
17 Pepsi Co. Purchase, NY 1,255 9.5
18 Pfizer New York 1,229 9.0
19 McDonald’s Corp Oak Brook,IL 1,213 3.3
20 Coca-Cola Co. Atlanta 1,195 0.8

(Lecture slides: slide no 15 accessed on 25 Nov 2009)

The problems of developing effective promotional strategies should be overcome in

order to have a successful international programme. Globalization of markets has led
the companies to enter new markets resulting in competition ultimately causing
complexity of the marketing internationally. The differences in the countries and
increasing competition cause problems in the globalization process which are classified
as follows:

1. Legal and tax considerations:

Laws controlling advertising vary from country to country. For e.g in Germany if the
advertiser uses comparative advertisement he can be sued by the competitor where as
in some countries such as UK, Sweden it is legally authorised. Thus the legal factor is
the major problem of international advertisement.

Some countries have special taxes on advertising, which might restrict creative
freedom in media. Federal states such as Bergenland has 10% on add insertions and
10-30% on posters, radio advertsinging carries 10% of tax, except Tyrol which has
20% tax for radio ad. Thus tax also is also one of the major problem for international
advertising. (Ghauri & Cateora; Terpstra& Sarathy)

2. Linguistic Limitations:
Language proposes barriers in effective communication as different countries have
different languages and multi-languages. A company marketing tomato paste in
Middle East found out that in Arabic the phase “tomato paste” translates as “tomato
glue”. Thus, language barriers impede effective, idiomatic translation and there by
hinder communication. (Ghauri & Cateora; Terpstra& Sarathy)

3. Social And Cultural diversity:

The problem of communicating people in diverse culture is a challenge in advertising

as the cultural factor determines the perception of various phenomenons. For e.g
Procter and Gamble’s initial advertisement for pamers failed because of cultural
differences between United Stated and Japan. Also, different types of subcultures
within a country require advertisers attention. (Ghauri & Cateora; Terpstra&
Sarathy) . In 1991 Hofstede’s used five dimension model for comparing culture,
Masculinity versus Femininity, Individualism versus Collectivism, Power Distance,
Long-term Orientation and Uncertainty Avoidance which has been effectively applied
to people consumption related values.

4. Media Limitations:

In international advertising an advertiser must consider the availability of media,

cost and coverage of the media. In some countries certain advertising media is
forbidden by the government edict to accept some advertising materials .For example,
in France, large supermarket chains are not allowed to advertise on media, also some
other forms of marketing promotions are regulated or banned. In some countries
shortages of advertising time on commercial television have caused the increase in
prices. (Ghauri & Cateora; Terpstra& Sarathy)

5. Production and cost Limitations:

Interest rates, Inflation rates, Money supply, Business cycles, Unemployment, GNP
trends contribute to problems in advertising globally.
Creativity in advertisement is vital when budget is small reflecting severe production
limitations, such as poor quality printing and lack of high paper grade. For e.g the
poor quality of high circulation glossy magazines and other European publications has
caused Colgate-Palmolive to depart from heavy print media of e newsprint in china.
(Ghauri & Cateora; Terpstra& Sarathy)

6. Lack of Market Data

Circulation of verified data to be circulated is very difficult. In spite of many
countries having organizations similar to Audit Bureau of Circulation, accurate data
circulation and gathering of data are not assured. Example the radio and television
audiences are always difficult to measure, and in some cases geographic coverage is
also not known accurately for advertising the products in the market. (Ghauri &
Cateora; Terpstra& Sarathy). Focus of government research, Rate of technology
transfer, Materials, Developing technological processes effect the strategy of
advertising.

7. Political issues:

The structure of a political system defines the centre of political influence. A state
with a federal political structure will differ from a unitary political system. In the UK
there is a parliament for Scotland and an assembly for Wales. There is however being
a number of decision areas that are still are the responsibility of the Westminster
parliament. In the political atmosphere certain political issues are mainly important.
For example countries like Russia have comparatively unstable governments, and if
the new leaders come in the power then their policies may change dramatically.

CONCLUSION

The critical review of this literature states that there are drastic changes in the field of
advertisement in past few decades. Due to the dynamic globalization of the world
promotional strategies has totally reformed in the terms of advertisement. These
revolutions do cause many problems to occur spontaneously. This literature has
mentioned some of the major drawbacks and hindrances caused in the change. The
barriers such as political, languish, legal and tax, cultural differences, media, lack of
market research are the strong opposition forces in implementing this change. Theses
all factors are very critical and should be carefully considered before the reformation.
PART
 B
“

INTRODUCTION

Today’s world has been drastically changed owing to the globalization. Conglomerate
is operating multinationals to escalate their profit figures. And peoples are moving to
different countries in search of better life. This mass movement lead to cultural mix or
diversification of different culture. To work in this environment it is extremely
important to understand the ways of working or ways of communication in each
culture. According to changingminds.org {www} [12], process of communication
involves the contexts utilized, non verbal communication, time and speed of speech,
though pattern and language, space and meaning which id distinct for all cultures.

To deeply understand the concept of communication within segregate cultures Hall,

Edward T. (1976), had first introduce the phenomenon of high context culture (HC)
and low context culture (LC). He argues that communication between two cross
cultural individuals influenced by a number of factors. He suggests “"meaning and
context are inextricably bound up with each other" (Hall, 2000, p. 36) which implies
that message could be understand with the help of meaning and context together with
the code associated with it. By context he refers to the conditions, background or the
situation of the scenario.

HCC and LCC both exhibit different traits so to communicate within each other’ s
premises requires an in-depth knowledge of other’s culture and way of
communication. It requires deep understanding of the cultural obligations and respect
for their ways of working.

HIGH CONTEXT CULTURE (HCC).

As identified by Hall (1976, p 79) in a high context culture “more of the information
in the physical context or internalized in the person”. Means the individuals in an
HCC retrieve more information from other than the spoken words, like there history
and culture. Information is hidden and ambiguous and depends upon the knowledge
and perception of receiver’s cultural values. The message is covert and implicit.
Communication majorly depends upon the non verbal aspects. According to
changingminds.org {www} [12], individuals are reserve and silence do include in
communication as a metaphor for respect. They posses an inward reaction and present
themselves as a responsible, in the term of a failure. They have an extraordinary tight
bond associated with their family friends and co group members.

According to Gudykunst et al. (1996), he identified HCC communication to be

indirect, ambiguous, maintaining of harmony; reserved and understated they have a
high gradient of respect towards their relations. They have a flexible time approach
and prefer process to be more important then task. There sense of closeness and
relationship derived form their strong culture, history, norms, religion and custom.

According to Wurtz E. (2005), the term described by Greet Hofstede (1980) as one
dimension of culture called collectivism, has a high impact on individuals from HCC.
They are not open with other groups and have a high respect for age. They enjoy
strong boundaries from others and active in group conversations. Decision making
techniques are highly influenced by the relation of group members and truth is judge
on the behalf of integrity and face to face relation. Power distance exists amongst the
members. Countries like FRANCE, JAPAN, KOREA, INDIA etc. are excellent
example for high context cultures.

LOW CONTEXT CULTURE (LCC).

According to culture-at-work.com {www} [9], individuals in low context culture has

a sense on individuality. They are very direct and clear with their speech and utilize
words to express themselves. They are overt and explicit in communication and
usually blame others for any failure. They focused on verbal communication than
their body language. They are very flexible and open to the change if needed. They
have a fragile bond of relationship and have a little respect for loyalty. They have task
oriented behaviour and are tightly time oriented. For them product is more impotent
than process.

In their communication they try to explain the theory for the basic. According to Hall
E.T (1990) they have a monochromatic time perception and are totally task oriented.
They can easily break relationship for doing the task right. They perform everything
in accordance to rules and regulations and shows short term relationship. Countries
such as AMERICA, BRITAIN, AUSTRALIA etc posses a low context culture.
 High-context culture Low-context culture
Factor

Many covert and implicit messages, Many overt and explicit

Overtones of with use of metaphor and reading messages that is simple and
messages between the lines. clear.

Inner locus of control and personal Outer locus of control and

Locus of control and
acceptance for blame of others for failure
attribution for failure
failure
Much nonverbal communication More focus on verbal
Use of non-verbal
communication than body
communication
language
Expression of Reserved, inward reactions Visible, external, outward
reaction reaction

Cohesion and Strong distinction between in-group and Flexible and open grouping
separation of groups out-group. Strong sense of family. patterns, changing as needed

Strong people bonds with affiliation to Fragile bonds between people

People bonds
family and community with little sense of loyalty.
High commitment to long-term Low commitment to
Level of commitment
relationships.Relationship more relationship. Task more
to relationships
important than task. important than relationships.
Flexibility of time Time is highly organized.
Time is open and flexible.
Product is more important
Process is more important than product
than process

(Source: http://changingminds.org/explanations/culture/hall_culture.htm)
CROSS CULTURAL COMMUNICATION.

There are number of things one should bear in mind when ever communicating with
different cultures. According to via-web.de {www} [10], the cross cultural problems
could be categorized in three distinct traits. They are “direction”, “quality” and
“quantity”. When ever a HCC individual communicating with LCC he should restrict
himself on the following
• He should try to be straight forward and clear as he can because to express
himself he can not rely on other’s cultural knowledge.
• In terms of quantity they should be interchange as many background details as
they can for a specific scenario.
• Cultural familiarity is needed and act upon those familiarities is required.
• Should adjust himself in terms of time orientation and try to be punctual on
time.
• Try to behave professionally and stick to the plan.
• Should not get distracted and distract others and should concentrate more
towards their specified job role.
• He should know that people from LCC are very self cantered and do not took
over the responsibility in event of any failure so to over come this he should
quite directive and supervise closely.
• Allow them with their space and freedom of individuality rather than to
closely conceal in a group.

When ever a LCC individual has to communicate with HCC he should restrict himself
on the following.
• They should give respect to HCC norms, culture and behaviour and try to
provide them with enough time for their settlement in the group.
• Should tilt by appropriate degree towards the relationship than only the task.
• They need to untie the strong regulations for time punctuality and adjust
themselves with HCC behaviour towards time orientation.
• Should also consider the process to obtain the obligation rather than just
product.
• Should prepare themselves to pick up the vague sentences of others and train
themselves to act on unmentioned facts.
• They should stop themselves to being very much straight forward and
directive because it could be anticipated as rudeness by peoples form HCC.
• Should able to pick up the reaction from the body language or unspoken words
rather than only relying on spoken ones.
 • Should associate with a group in order to process a problem solving technique.

When ever a cross cultural communication occurs certain problems do occurs. Due to
difference in understanding, ways to doing things, perception and orientation a lot of
discrepancy occurs in between. To best avoid these problems the superlative ways is
to understand each others priorities and traditions.

CONCLUSION
The critical review of this literature explains that there is a huge gap transpires
between HCC and LCC. They both seem to be two sides of a coin. We can not
conclude any of them as erroneous or superior to other. They are being the way they
carry out their jobs. HCC has more emphasis on maintaining relationship than
performing task. They are loyal towards their family and exhibit a strong family bond.
They are in directive and ambiguous in speech but held themselves as responsible for
the failure. Whereas their counter part in LCC being very much open and directive in
their speech. They are straight forward and task oriented. They are very tight
scheduled and fast.

To manage cross cultural communication efficiently on need to carefully consider

three phenomenons very tightly that are, direction, quality and quality. Cross cultural
communication barrier losses its existence if these phenomenon dealt properly. They
need to thoroughly understand each others traits and act accordingly. It is a bit
obvious that if two individuals from two different cultures communicate with each
other the transferred information is subjected to distortion due to the perceptions and
interpretation are being influenced by their own values. No one is superior to other in
any manner but is distinct.

REFERENCE:

1. Doyle P. 1982, Case studies in international marketing, Ed. Illustrated

published by Butterworth-Heinemann Ltd.
2. Dozier B.J. and Husted B.W. 2004, journal a communication approach to
cross cultural ethics, p 111-125, published by Springer Netherlands.

3. Friedman, T.(1999). The lexus and the olive tree: understanding globalization.
3rd edition, New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux.

4. Terpstra V. and Sarathy R. 2000, international marketing, ed: 8th,

published by Dryden Press.

5. Hall, Edward T. 1976, Beyond Culture 3rd edition, Anchor Press/Doubleday,

Garden City, New York.

6. Hall, Edward T., and Hall, Mildred Reed 1990, 2nd edition Understanding
Cultural Differences, Intercultural Press, Inc.

7. Hall, E. T. (2000). Context and meaning. In L. A. Samovar & R. E. Porter

(Eds.), Intercultural Communication: A Reader, 9th ed. (pp. 34-43). Belmont,
CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co.

8. Wurtz E. 2005, journal on Computer mediated communication, university of

Copenhagen Denmark.

9. Section on high and low context available at http://www.culture-at-

work.com/highlow.html cited on 27th Nov 2009 at 15:36.

10. Section on high context culture vs. low context culture available at
http://www.via-web.de/high-context-vs-low-context/ cited on 2nd Dec 2009 at
18:25.

11. Gudykunst, W. B., Matsumoto, Y., Ting-Toomey, S., Nishida, T., Kim, K., &
Heyman, S. (1996). The influence of cultural individualism-collectivism, self-
construal’s, and individual values on communication styles across
cultures. Human Communication Research, 22 (4), 510-543.
 12. Section on Hall_culture available at
http://changingminds.org/explanations/culture/hall_culture.htm cited on 3rd
Dec 2009 at 21:37.

13. Section on Defination of globalization available at

(http://hubpages.com/hub/Definition-of-Globalization) cited on 27th Nov 2009
at 15:52.

14. Section on ways of international advertisement available at

http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~sdouglas/rpubs/intad.html cited on 3rd Dec 2009 at
17:45.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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