BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

Business Management

Business Management

Unit 1 Introduction to Management

National Culture and Management

Culture provides a sense of belonging to people. Most management research proposes that the ideal outlook of culture is "a set of ideas shared by members of a group" (Jaeger, 1986). National culture is the collective programming that results from experiences derived from values such as family, government, religion, architecture, and even science (Flynn & Saladin, 2006). National culture changes very gradually because what is in the minds of people of a nation also becomes crystallized in its organizations. Hofstede (1993) conducted research across forty countries and surveyed over 116,000 employees from multinational organizations to develop a system for national culture. From this data, four principal factors were extracted:

Power Distance, Individualism, Masculinity, and Uncertainty Avoidance. The study of culture is the analysis of all aspects of society, language, knowledge, laws, customs, giving the company its distinctive character and personality. Consumer behaviour defines culture as "the sum total of beliefs, values and customs learned that serve to regulate consumer behaviour of members of a specific society.

Culture is the main cause of the desires and behaviours of a person. Much of consumer behaviour is learned. The culture is communicated to the members of the society through a common language and through commonly shared symbols. Since the human mind has the ability to absorb and process symbolic communication, marketers can successfully promote products and concepts tangible and intangible products to consumers through the mass media. Once that is determined or segments within which it will lead the product, you can set an appropriate marketing mix to attract this segment (Gharajedaghi, 2006, pp.132-143). The culture is said to be rewarding because it provides order, direction and governance of all solutions to human problems by providing proven methods to meet the psychological needs, personal and social. The culture is still valid if it meets individuals who share it. In order to fulfil the role of gratification of needs, culture must evolve if it is to work for the best interests of society. Should be monitored carefully in the socio-cultural environment in order to market a product most effective existing or develop new products.

Members of a subculture have beliefs, values and customs that set them apart from other members of the same company, at the same time, maintain the dominant beliefs of society as a whole. In some cases the characteristics of the product may focus on specialized needs of the market segment. Sub cultural analysis allows marketers to segment their markets to meet the specific needs motivations, perceptions and attitudes shared by members of a specific subculture. A subculture is a distinct cultural group, which exists as an identifiable segment within a large and complex society (Geletkanycz, 1997, pp. 615-634).

Because all consumers simultaneously belong to several sub cultural groups, marketers must determine for the product category you want to project, how they interact with specific sub cultural memberships to be able to influence buying decisions ...