Cultural Analysis of a Country

Cultural Analysis of a Country BY mak893 Cultural Analysis of a potential market While introducing either a new product or an existing product in a new market, it is very essential to perform a cultural analysis on the market. This gives us a brief idea about the market and helps us in making the market planning decisions. Entering a new market can be difficult, because different markets have different cultures.

For example the market in South Africa will be completely different in terms of food, dressing styles, the languages they speak, religions they believe and other abits than the market in Europe.

Thus we need to have different market strategies for introducing products in different countries. For this purpose a cultural analysis of a country is very important. But before we look at the market we also need understand the company and its product that we are trying to promote. Once we are familiar with the company and its product then we can move on and look into entering the new market, and the country it is located in.

Once we have understood the product, we need to get a better understanding of the nation and its culture in which the market is located.

The first thing that is important in the cultural analysis is to understand the brief history of the country. To understand the present and to predict the future we need to know the past. This gives us an idea of their backgrounds and their traditions. It gives us reasoning for why they do certain things. For example, in India it is customary to wash your feet when you enter the house.

If we have studied the history of India we will know that in the past when people walked bare foot their feet would get very dirt and as a hygiene habit they would wash their feet before entering the house.

How the people react to certain things greatly depends on how they have reacted to similar things in the past. Thus understanding history is essential part of the cultural analysis. The next thing important on the list is to know the location of the country. It is very helpful to know where the market is located and what kind of climate and topography it has.

For example, products made of Cashmere wool will have a greater market in colder areas than the warmer parts of the world. Location also plays an important role, because this helps us to understand if it is a landlocked market or do water bodies surround t.

This helps in making transportation decisions for the market. Another important aspect to look at when understanding the market is the social structure of the country. We need to know what kind of people exists in this market. How do these people in that nation perceive themselves and others around them? Are they generally friendly and open minded in terms of new product or they tent to be more conservative.

What kind of food they eat and clothes they wear or languages they speak. Do they eat more processed foods and canned foods or do they eat more fresher vegetables and meat.

Are they more laidback people or are they very energetic and enthusiastic people. We need to have a complete grip of the social structure of the market. We also need to get a brief understanding of how the people in that particular market react to certain things or certain products.

People in more western countries may perceive a women smoking as completely normal thing, but upon. You need to understand the social organizations that the people associate themselves with; do they still associate themselves with different class and caste system?

For Example in India class system is very prevalent and most of the time hese classes are dived upon their income levels. Thus the idea of a college student from a upper middle class family working in Mac Donald’s for extra pocket money might not be very welcomed in India as compared to other countries such as USA. If the country has more nuclear families than extended family then there will be more demand for services such as day care centers for kids etc. If our product is a leisure item then we need to know what the people tend to do in their free time.

Are they more athletic, play sports go to the club or they like to Just relax may be go to the spa r Just watch a movie.

If the product is going to be successful in a market, we need to know if the country more male dominated or female dominated. Which section of the population is going to be our target audience? If females are the ones that do most of the shopping then our marketing strategy needs to focus on attracting the women. Also if the country is very conservation then products such as alcohol will have little or no market in that particular country.

For example, Wine would have a better market in more classy and fashionable country such as France than beer, hich would have a better market in a more energetic and fun filled country such as Australia. It is helpful to know how educated is the population of the country, and what percentage of the population is educated. The higher the educated population for the country there will be a better market for technologically advanced products.

But since the technologically advanced electronics are generally expensive products we need to take in consideration the economic condition of the country.

We need to know the poverty line of the country and how many people are living either above or elow that poverty line. Along with understanding the social structure we need to also understand the political structure of the country. We need to take in to consideration the government of the country. Are they a democratic country or a republican country? How stable is the government, how involved is it at the local level and the international level.

It is necessary to know what type of taxes are required to be paid by the people at the state level and the national level. And also what taxes will the entering company need to pay.

It might not be beneficial to enter a market here the taxes and tariffs are going to be very high in comparison to the extra profits that the company will make by entering the new markets. It is also very important to understand the cultural and religious aesthetics of the country and how they influence the business practices. Some cultures are very laid back and being on time is not the most important thing to them as important as it is to get the Job done, but while in other cultures this might be perceived as rude or unprofessional.

We need to know which religions are more prominent in the country.

If it’s an Islamic ountry then food products with pork in it will have no market in that country. We also need to grasp the living condition of the people. What type of food they eat, are they meat lover or they mostly eat vegetarian courses. Once we have completely understood the historical, environmental, social, religious, political and the cultural aspects of the country, we are now ready to make a decision if the product will be successful in this country or not.

And if yes, then we can take a further step and built References Cateora P. R, Gilly M. C and Graham J. ‘ (2008). International Marketing. McGraw-Hill Irwin.