134 Part 2 The Cultural Environment of Global Markets Informal discussions, entertaining, mutual friends, contacts, and just spending time with others are ways guanxi, ningen kankei, compadre, and other trusting relationships are developed. In those cultures in which friendships are a key to success, the businessperson should not slight the time required for their development. Friendship motivates local agents to make more sales, and friendship helps establish the right relationship with end users, which leads to more sales over a longer period. Naturally, after-sales service, price, and the product must be competitive, but the marketer who has established guanxi, ningen kankei, or compadre has the edge. Establishing friendship is an imperative in many cultures. If friendship is not established, the marketer risks not earning trust and acceptance, the basic cultural prerequisites for developing and retaining effective business relationships. The significance of establishing friendship cannot be overemphasized, especially in those countries where family relationships are close. In China, for example, the outsider is, at best, in fifth place in order of importance when deciding with whom to conduct business. The family is first, then the extended family, then neighbors from one’s hometown, then former classmates, and only then, reluctantly, strangers—and the last only after a trusting relationship has been established. In some cultures, a person’s demeanor is more critical than in other cultures. For example, it is probably never acceptable to lose your patience, raise your voice, or cor-rect someone in public, no matter how frustrating the situation. In some cultures such behavior would only cast you as boorish, but in others, it could end a business deal. In Asian cultures it is imperative to avoid causing your counterpart to lose face. In China, to raise your voice, to shout at a Chinese person in public, or to correct one in front of his or her peers will cause that person to lose face. However, to apologize for one’s own oversights or mistakes in cultures like China and Japan, where errors harm the collective good, is mandatory. Moreover, if a corporation is involved, the apol-ogy should be widely publicized.7 A complicating factor in cultural awareness is that what may be an imperative to avoid in one culture is an imperative to do in another. For example, in Japan, prolonged eye contact is consid-ered offensive, and it is imperative that it be avoided. However, with Arab and Latin American executives, it is important to make strong eye contact, or you run the risk of being seen as evasive and untrustworthy. Cultural Electives. Cultural electives relate to areas of behavior or to customs that cultural aliens may wish to conform to or participate in but that are not required. In other words, fol-lowing the custom in question is not particularly important but is permissible. The majority of customs fit into this category. One need not greet another man with a kiss (a custom in some countries), eat foods that disagree with the digestive system (so long as the refusal is gracious), or drink alcoholic beverages (if for health, personal, or religious reasons). However, a symbolic attempt to participate in such options is not only acceptable but also may help establish rapport. It demonstrates that the marketer has studied the culture. Japanese do not expect a Westerner to bow and to understand the ritual of bowing among Japanese, yet a symbolic bow indicates interest and some sensitivity to Japanese culture that is acknowledged as a gesture of goodwill. It may help pave the way to a strong, trusting relationship. A cultural elective in one county may be an imperative in another. For example, in some cultures, one can accept or tactfully and politely reject an offer of a beverage, whereas in other cases, the offer of a beverage is a special ritual and to refuse it is an 7Christopher Bodeen, “Apple CEO Apologizes to China for Repair Policies,” Associated Press, April 2, 2013; Takashi Mochizuki and Eric Pfanner, “Sony Warns of Deeper Woes,” The Wall Street Journal, September 18, 2014, pp. B1, B6. BEIJING, CHINA: German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao toast after the EU–China Business Summit at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. The summit was boosted by the settlement of a trade row that had left 80 million Chinese-made garments piled up in European seaports, unable to be delivered to shops under a quota pact agreed to at the time. Drinking half a bottle is a cultural elective, but taking a sip is more of an imperative in this case.
Cateora_InternationalMarketing_17e
To see the actual publication please follow the link above