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Introduction
International marketing refers to the exchange of marketing products and services among various national business environments. Unlike the domestic marketing which involves trading of goods and services within a country and its localities, international marketing takes business to another level where nations are able to feature as participants. However, as the growth of the global economy continues to expand, the understanding of marketing across the global cultures has become increasingly important.
Main Body
As it would be observed, international marketing is influenced by dynamic environmental forces and factors. Today, cultural issues are among the biggest challenges that have continued to affect the activities of international marketing over the years (Craig & Douglas 2005). It is understandable that, people all over the world have different cultural values and tastes.
These, however, forms part of the many environmental and sociocultural factors that tend to influence consumer choices and preferences on products and services. One of the biggest culture-affiliated issues that have continued to limit the success of international marketing is the self reference criterion.
Self reference criterion simply refers to a person’s unconscious reference to their own cultural values and demands as a basis for the marketing decisions they tend to make (Cateora & Graham 2010). In other terms, this is whereby a party’s reactions or behaviours are based on aspects of their own cultural perspectives, rather than those of different cultures offered by the foreign environments.
It is obviously true that, when organisations have successfully sold their products and services in their local markets, they would tend to assume that the brands will receive similar success across the borders (Bradley 2005). This, however, cannot be the case in most situations, since the entire process of international marketing relies on a number of environmental factors and forces. One of the primary challenges facing international marketers in their business activities is the issue of culture, which tends to vary greatly across the world.
The global market is a business environment that welcomes marketers and buyers from all over the world, and in that case, participants are likely to portray different cultural features as it is it would be dictated by their varied national identities (Kaynak & Harcar 2005). Based on this observation, it is a good idea for a firm that aspires to join the global markets to understand the dynamics of international marketing first, and try to adopt marketing strategies that would be effective beyond the borders.
This will not only help in putting marketers in a position where they are able to understand the needs and preferences of their business environment, but is also likely to increase their chances of being successful in the global markets.
Self reference criterion has been a common problem for many investors and marketers across the world. This explains the reason why international marketing remains a challenge to many countries in the world (Pervez & Philip 2010). More importantly, the tendency of applying one’s own cultural ideas and experiences to influence the way others would react to a marketing approach also continues to be the primary obstacle to the success of global marketing nowadays.
The tendency of assuming that just because our businesses have been successful locally, they shall fetch the same success across the borders, without any adaptations, has been a costly mistake for many international investors (Czinkota & Ronkainen 2010). It is obvious that people would tend to have varied tastes for different products and services, and this solely depends on our cultural values.
In this regard, marketers should not always base their beliefs in the assumption that what is suitable to them is also suitable to others in the foreign market environments. This unconscious presumption may often make investors approach matters in the same manner they would do in their countries of origin, and this will eventually result to the wrong business decisions and plans in a foreign business environment.
As it would be observed, different perspectives and beliefs will tend to show up in different cultures on several issues (Keegan & Green 2011). For instance, as we all know, symbols and signs are perceived differently by people of different cultures. Consider the case of the white colour, which is perceived to be a sign of misfortune or death in China, while in the U.S. it is a symbol of peace of purity.
There is also the contrasting issue of monochromic cultures and polychromic cultures, both of which portray how different cultures differ largely in the manner by which they approach matters. While it is in the tendency of monochromic cultures to value perfect scheduling of events and handling one thing at a time, polychromic cultures would handle multiple things simultaneously.
Another significant issue that clearly illustrates the concept of self reference criterion across cultures is the aspect of space. Different cultures across the world will perceive space in a different way (Lancaster & Massingham 2002). For example, it is common for persons of a particular culture to approach others from a different culture in a very close manner, without stopping to think of how members of the other culture would perceive the approach.
While members of some cultures would see this as a normal behavior, others from a different culture may find it a bit strange, thus reacting in an adverse manner. As a result of this cultural misunderstanding which is dictated by the values of self reference criterion, confusion is likely to arise between the parties. In such a scenario, the first individual may end up thinking that the other person is unfriendly to them, while the latter perceives them as pushy.
As a matter of fact, the self reference criterion can generate undesirable effects to international marketers (Luhmann 1990). Some of the most common effects here include conflict and misunderstandings among people of different cultures who happens to meet in a common business environment. It is very important for a firm that intends to enter the global markets to be well-informed of the cultural differences of its targeted business environment (Jamal 2003).
So as to be able to address these marketing challenges appropriately, the firm should also be very careful when using the local language of the host countries to communicate their business agendas. All these requirements can be achieved by conducting extensive study of the international markets using appropriate research approaches, such as surveys and questionnaires. This way, the firm can easily recognise the effects that the concept of self reference criterion is likely to bring on their behavior, thus trying to avoid it in all aspects.
Another importance of having a better understanding of the self reference criterion is that, it positively influences the evaluation of a domestically tailored marketing mix that is intended for a foreign market (Aron & Craig 2003). In this respect, a firm will be able to design a marketing mix based not only on the cultural values and tastes of its mother country, but also on the cultural perspectives of the other players in the international markets.
The firm should be more than willing to accept the diverse cultural differences as they are presented by the global markets. This is a very important approach, for it facilitates global awareness that serves as the other most effective tool which can be used to facilitate the success of international marketing.
Conclusion
Based on all these observations, it is clear that a sound understanding of the self reference criterion is very crucial for any firm that aspires to venture the global markets for the first time. Perfect knowledge of the self reference criterion gives the firm perfect lessons on how to define problems and challenges based on the cultural experiences of the international markets, rather than on the basis of its country of origin (Kotler & Saundres 1999).
This way, the firm can be assured of developing an adequately adapted business approach which is likely to generate consistent business success at the international level. In this case, it is important for marketers targeting a global audience to understand these regional differences and needs as they are dictated by culture, and try to address them in an appropriate manner.
References
Aron, O & Craig, J 2003, ‘Examining firm and environmental influences on export marketing mix strategy and export performance of Australian exporters’, European Journal of Marketing, vol. 37, no. 3, pp. 366–384.
Bradley, F 2005, International marketing strategy, Pearson Education, New Jersey.
Cateora, P & Graham, J 2010, International Marketing, McGraw Hill, New York.
Craig, C & Douglas, S 2005, International marketing research, John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, New Jersey.
Czinkota, M & Ronkainen, I 2010, International Marketing, Harcourt, San Francisco.
Jamal, A 2003, ‘Marketing in a multicultural world: The interplay of marketing, ethnicity and consumption’, European Journal of Marketing, vol. 37, no. 11, pp. 159-162.
Kaynak, E & Harcar, T 2005, ‘American consumers’ attitudes towards commercial banks: A comparison of local and national bank customers by use of geodemographic segmentation’, International Journal of Bank Marketing, vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 73-89.
Keegan, W & Green, M 2011, Global Marketing, Prentice Hall, Penguin, USA.
Kotler, A &, Saundres, W 1999, Principles of Marketing, Prentice Hall, Europe.
Lancaster, G & Massingham, A 2002, Essentials of Marketing, McGraw Hill, London.
Luhmann, N 1990, Essays on self reference, Columbia University Press, New York.
Pervez, G & Philip, C 2010, International Marketing, McGraw-Hill, London.
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