THEINTERNATIONALMARKETINGENVIRONMENT 139
ersareevenmorepronounced. Retailersmorecloselyreflecttheeconomicconditionsand
cultureofthatcountry;many smallretailersdominatemostofthesecountries.
PhysicaldistributionLOoverseasmarKetsoftenrequiresspecialmarketingplanning.
Manycountrieshaveinadequatedockingfacilities,limitedhighways,variousrailroadtrack
gauges, toofewvehicles,andtoofewwarehouses.Managingproductinventoriesrequires
considerationofthe availabilityof suitablewarehousing,aswellasthecostsofshipping
insmallquantities.
TheInternationalMarketingEnvironment
A numberofl'actorsconstitutetheinternational environment:social, cultural,political,legal,
competitive. economic,plus technology.Eachshouldbeevaluatedbeforea companymakes
a decisiontogointernational.
TheSocial/CulturalEnvironment
Theculturalenvironmentconsistsof theinfluenceofreligious,family,educational,andsocial
syster..:sinthemarketingsystem.M arketerswhointendtomarkettheirproductsoverseas
maybeverysensitivetoforeigncultures.Whilethedifferencesbetweenourculturalback-
groundintheUnitedStatesandthoseofforeignnationsmayseemsmall,marketerswho
ignorethesedifferencesriskfailureinimplementingmarketingprograms.Failuretocon-
siderculturaldifferencesis oneoftheprimaryreasonsformarketingfailures overseas.Table
6.1providessomeillustrationsofculturaldifference"aroundtheworld.
Thistaskisnotaseasyasitsound",asva.-ioilSfeaturesofa culturecancreatean
illusionofsimilarity.Evena commonlanguagedoesnotguaranteesimilarityofinterpre-
tation.Forexample,intheU.S. wepurchase"cans"ofvariousgroceryproducts,butthe
BritishpL;;chase"tins."Anumberofculturaldifferencescancausemarketersproblemsin
attemptingtomarkettheirproductsoverseas. Theseinclude: (1)language, (2) color,
(3)customsandtaboos, (4)values,(5)aesthetics, (6)time,(7)businessnorms,(8)religion,
and(9)socialstructures. Eachisdiscussedin thefollowingsections.
Language
Theimportanceoflanguagedifferencescannotbeoveremphasized,astherearealmost3,000
languagesintheworld.Languagedifferences causemanyproblemsfor:narketersindesign-
ingadvertisingcampaigns andproductlabels.:"'a:lguageproblemsbecomeevenmoreseri-
ousoncethepeopleofa countryspeakseveral languages.Forexample,inCanada,labels
mustbeinbothEnglishandFrench. InIndia,thereareover 200 differentdialects,anda
similarsituationexistsinChina.
Colors
Colorsalsohavedifferentmeaningsindifferentcultures.Forexample,inEgypt,thecoun-
try's nationalcolorofgreenisconsideredunacceptableforpackaging,becausereligious
leadersonceworeit.InJapan,blackandwhitearecolorsofmourningandshouldnotbe
usedona product's package.Similarly, purpleis 1 J.'lacceptableinHispanicnationsbecause
itis associatedwithGeath.
CustomsandTaboos
Allcultureshavetheirownuniquesetofcustomsandtaboos.Itisimportantformarketers
tolearnaboutthesecustomsandtaboossothattheywillknowwhatis acceptableandwhat
