For international marketers it is important to understand customers’ personal values and accepted norms of behaviour in order to market to them properly. At the same time marketers must search for groups with shared cognitions that result in shared views of the marketer’s offerings and in similar product-related behaviour to simplify their task. Such groups may even exist across country borders.

High/low context cultures

The difference between high- and low-context communication cultures helps us understand why, for example, Asian (high-context) and western (low-context) styles are so different, and why the Asians prefer indirect verbal communication and symbolism over the direct assertive communication approaches used by western people. Other dimensions, such as different concepts of time, can also explain major differences between East and West.

Hofstede’s model

In order to construct a more refined classification system, Hofstede developed a model of ‘4 + 1’ dimensions for comparing work-related values, based on data collected in an extensive study. This model also proves useful for comparing cultures with respect to consumption-related values. As a result it can explain the variety of values and motivations used in marketing and advertising across cultures. It can also explain differences in actual consumption behaviour and product use and can thus assist in predicting consumer behaviour or effectiveness of marketing strategies for cultures other than one’s own. This will be particularly useful for companies that want to develop global marketing and advertising strategies.