Cultural Analysis of a Country
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 habits 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
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
References: Cateora P.R, Gilly M.C and Graham J.I (2008). International Marketing. McGraw-Hill Irwin.