Page 129 - GLOBAL STRATEGIC MARKETING

a product is positioned in the market and the benefit a consumer derives
from that product. It is not possible to cover all aspects of social and

cultural differences in this unit; neither is it possible to describe all the
differences between the cultures across the world. Therefore, this unit
focuses mostly on definitions, aspects of culture and the impact of culture

on international marketing strategy. The unit also considers Hofstede’s
conceptual framework on cultural dimensions.

4.3 What is culture?

The word culture comes from the Latin cultura, which is from the roots of

the concept of cult worship. The Latin meaning of culture implies the
existence of a belief system and ways of worship that identify the members
of a cult. Therefore, most definitions of culture focus on the identification

of a group of similar characteristics. According to McDonald and Burton
(2002), this definition leads to problems when there is an attempt to

separate national, regional or even local cultural groups. The strength of
identification could be at sub-group level within a local, regional or national

context. Culture has been researched for many years and yet is still seen
as a group of complicated elements very difficult to define. McDonald and
Burton (2002) define culture as the integrated sum total of learned

behavioural traits that are shared by members of society. Terpstra and
Sarathy (2000, p. 90) point out that culture is a total pattern of behaviour

that is consistent and compatible in its components. It is not a collection of
random behaviours but behaviour that is related and integrated. In
addition, culture is learned behaviour. It is not biologically transmitted. It

depends on the environment. It can be called the man-made part of our
environment. Furthermore, culture is behaviour that is shared by a group

of people, a society. It can be considered as the distinctive way of life of a
people. According to Terpstra and Sarathy (2000), the fact that there is a
lot of research in this area results in many different definitions of culture.

However, certain elements are agreed by most researchers as common
ground for purpose of defining culture. These are: