Page 135 - GLOBAL STRATEGIC MARKETING

not work hard. They will be relatively tolerant of behaviour and opinions
different from their own, because they do not feel threatened by them.

Such societies can be called ‘weak certainty avoidance societies’. The
Philippines, Venezuela, India and others show large power distance.
France and Belgium also scores fairly high. Denmark, Israel and Australia

score low. Other societies essentially try to beat the unpredictable future.
In these societies there will be higher levels of anxiety in people, which

become manifest in greater nervousness, more emotion and
aggressiveness. Such societies, called ‘strong uncertainty avoidance’
societies, also have institutions that try to create security and avoid risk.

We can create security in three ways:

• Technology in the broadest sense of the word, as through technology
we protect ourselves from the risks of nature and war

• Law, again in the broad sense of the word; through law and all kind of
rules and institutions we protect ourselves from the unpredictability of
human behaviour

• Through religion and ideology.

All societies have, in one way or another, their own religion that makes
them feel secure as well as making uncertainty tolerable. It is something
big and powerful and contains a message that is beyond uncertainty.

4.6.3 Individualism versus collectivism

This is the dimension measuring whether citizens of a particular country
identify themselves primarily as individuals or as members of a group

(Currie, 1991). Harrison et al. (2000) points out that individualism refers to
the extent to which individuals in a society have the freedom to pursue

their own interests and those of their families without interference from
those in authority. The fundamental issue involved is the relation between

an individual and his or her fellow individuals. At one end of the scale we