Standardization Versus Adaptation in International Marketing
Standardization versus Adaptation in International Marketing
Introduction The most challenging decision that a company may face in internationalization is the degree of standardization or adaptation in its operations. The question of standardization or adaptation affects all avenues of a business’ operations, such as R&D, finance, production, organizational structure, procurement, and the marketing mix. Whether a company chooses to standardize or adapt its operations depends on its attitudes toward different cultures. These attitudes are defined by three orientations toward foreign culture: ethnocentric, polycentric, and geocentric.
Ethnocentric Model Ethnocentrism has a socio-psychological dynamic that is broadly used to describe human behavior in and between contradistinctive cultures. The roots of ethnocentrism stem from a sociological construct explaining “majority” versus “minority” conflicts. In 1906, sociologist William Graham Sumner coined “ethnocentrism”. He defined the concept as, The view of things in which one's own group is the center of everything, and all others are scaled and rated with reference to it…each group nourishes its own pride and vanity, boasts itself superior, exalts its own divinities and looks with contempt on outsiders.
The heart of ethnocentrism can be summarized as, a belief system of, one’s own company, culture, or country knows best at how to operate things. The concept has a unique set of principles, which govern its very being. These principles are distinguishing different groups; viewing their own group as stronger, superior, and forthright above all others; and to be apprehensive of and indifferent toward other groups, especially those they see as weak or inferior, or not trustworthy.
Ethnocentrism is ingrained in various areas of interaction between multifarious groups of people. Ethnocentrism can predestine how companies behave in conducting business cross-culturally, as well as act toward particular
Introduction The most challenging decision that a company may face in internationalization is the degree of standardization or adaptation in its operations. The question of standardization or adaptation affects all avenues of a business’ operations, such as R&D, finance, production, organizational structure, procurement, and the marketing mix. Whether a company chooses to standardize or adapt its operations depends on its attitudes toward different cultures. These attitudes are defined by three orientations toward foreign culture: ethnocentric, polycentric, and geocentric.
Ethnocentric Model Ethnocentrism has a socio-psychological dynamic that is broadly used to describe human behavior in and between contradistinctive cultures. The roots of ethnocentrism stem from a sociological construct explaining “majority” versus “minority” conflicts. In 1906, sociologist William Graham Sumner coined “ethnocentrism”. He defined the concept as, The view of things in which one's own group is the center of everything, and all others are scaled and rated with reference to it…each group nourishes its own pride and vanity, boasts itself superior, exalts its own divinities and looks with contempt on outsiders.
The heart of ethnocentrism can be summarized as, a belief system of, one’s own company, culture, or country knows best at how to operate things. The concept has a unique set of principles, which govern its very being. These principles are distinguishing different groups; viewing their own group as stronger, superior, and forthright above all others; and to be apprehensive of and indifferent toward other groups, especially those they see as weak or inferior, or not trustworthy.
Ethnocentrism is ingrained in various areas of interaction between multifarious groups of people. Ethnocentrism can predestine how companies behave in conducting business cross-culturally, as well as act toward particular