Deck 5: The cultural environment

Question 1

International business can be considered a change agent.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

To take advantage of global markets, marketers are required to standardise all communication and product offerings to blend the cultural and social norms of differing peoples into one branded strategy.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Values are shared beliefs or group norms that have been internalised by individuals.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Cultural dimensions frameworks are considered overrated.

Question 5

Groups that provide the values and attitudes of society and become influential in shaping behaviour are called 'libraries of commerce'.

Question 6

Education, either formal or informal, plays a major role in the passing on and sharing of culture.

Question 7

In low context cultures context is at least as important as what is actually said.The speaker and the listener rely on a common understanding of the context.

Question 8

Culture is defined as an integrated system of innate behaviour patterns that are distinguishing characteristics of the members of any given society.

Question 9

Australia is an example of a high context culture.

Question 10

The international manager's task is to distinguish relevant cross-cultural and intracultural differences and then to isolate potential opportunities and problems.

Question 11

The sensitivity and adaptation to cultural elements by an international firm depends on the firm's level of involvement in the market and the product or service marketed.

Question 12

Japan and Saudi Arabia are examples of high context cultures.

Question 13

Forward-translation is translating of a foreign language version back to the original language by a different person from the one who made the first translation.

Question 14

Culture is primarily passed on by parents to their children, as well as by social organisations, special-interest groups, the government, schools and the church.

Question 15

In most cultures, people find in religion a reason for being and legitimacy in the belief that their lives are supreme in comparison to the lives of others.

Question 16

Focus groups are segments of management who gather to write opinions based on their perception of the market and stem from the 'jury of executive opinion' research that was conducted in the 1950s.

Question 17

Verbal language is much more relevant for an international marketer than non-verbal language.

Question 18

According to the textbook, the process of acculturation is one of the keys to success in international operations.

Question 19

Experimental information is obtained from others through communication, research and education.

Question 20

Acculturation is the process of extending one's own culture across boundaries to influence, if not dominate, a competing culture in another global market.It is otherwise known as cultural imperialism.

Question 21

Which religion has been characterised as a code of conduct rather than a religion?

A)Protestantism
B)Confucianism
C)Islam
D)Buddhism

Question 22

How can marketers determine the education levels of a culture?

A)By using secondary data on literacy rates and enrolment in secondary or higher education
B)By observing how well the people of the culture speak
C)By comparing primary school entry statistics with university entry statistics
D)Through self-reported linguistic analysis (SRLA)

Question 23

Which of the following is incorrect about language?

A)Since the territory's return to China in 1997, the Hong Kong government is promoting the use of Cantonese rather than English as the language of commerce.
B)Language also has to be understood in its historical context.
C)Language is only a communication medium.
D)All of these choices

Question 24

The use of visual aids rather than printed materials is recommended in cultures with:

A)high concentrations of Chinese, since their language is interpretive.
B)high levels of illiteracy.
C)high-end technology including computers and kiosks.
D)government regulation.

Question 25

The roles of language in international marketing do not include:

A)understanding the cultural similarities in the host country.
B)information gathering and evaluation.
C)access to local society.
D)communications within the corporate family or with channel members.

Question 26

The basic economic infrastructure elements of a society are:

A)buildings, ports and communications.
B)transportation, energy and communications.
C)food production, water supply and roads.
D)government, food production and water supply.

Question 27

Which of the following is an example of gifts that should be avoided?

A)During the Chinese New Year it considered polite to give modest gifts, such as coffee and pens.
B)Sweets would be good gifts for the Hindu Diwali festival.
C)For Oesibo (Japan)gifts should come in sets of four or nine.
D)All these gifts should be avoided.

Question 28

In regards to time flexibility, which one of the following is correct?

A)Time is never flexible.
B)Deadlines have the same meaning in several countries.
C)In business meeting in South America it is perfectly acceptable to arrive late for a meeting.
D)In the USA 'time is money'.

Question 29

Which of the following is false?

A)One toy seller explained that playing with Mattel's golden-haired, skimpily dressed Barbie may lead girls to grow up into women who reject Iranian values.
B)Japanese youth display extremely positive attitudes towards Western goods.
C)Guanxi is a set of exchanges of favours to establish trust.
D)None of the above

Question 30

Marketers who bring about cultural change through dramatic campaigns without the adaptation of culture-specific elements can be accused of:

A)post-cultural antagonism.
B)bilateral modernism.
C)linguistic lethargy.
D)cultural imperialism.

Question 31

Which of the following represents a challenge for search engine marketing?

A)Achieving consistent branding across cultures
B)That search engines have traditionally given preference to sites with local top-level domain names
C)Finding the right skilled language service provider
D)All of these choices

Question 32

______________ is the division of a particular population into classes.

A)Casting
B)Population division
C)Social stratification
D)Ethnic division

Question 33

Which of the following is not true?

A)The official language in Brazil is Spanish.
B)Singapore has English as its only official language.
C)Venezuelans speak French.
D)None of the above

Question 34

Which of the following religions has the largest following among world religions?

A)Islam
B)Catholicism
C)Christianity
D)Confucianism

Question 35

Which of the following is not a part of basic economic infrastructure?

A)Transportation
B)Energy
C)Monetary reserve
D)Communication systems

Question 36

The textbook provided five key areas of non-verbal language.These do not include:

A)Language
B)Time and space
C)Material possessions
D)Friendship patterns

Question 37

The concept of _________ knowledge is broad and multifaceted.____________ knowledge is obtained from others through communication, research and education.______________ knowledge, on the other hand, can be acquired only by being involved in a culture other than one's own.

A)cultural; Objective; Experimental
B)social; Experimental; Factual
C)cultural; Experimental; Objective
D)cultural; Experimental; Factual.

Question 38

Which of the following is not a part of social infrastructure?

A)Housing
B)Health
C)Educational systems
D)National publications

Question 39

Which of the following is correct?

A)According to Hofstede, culture is the 'collective programming of the mind'.
B)Culture is inherently conservative, resisting change and fostering continuity.
C)Culture is defined as an integrated system of learned behaviour patterns that are distinguishing characteristics of the members of any given society.It includes everything that a group thinks, says, does and makes - its customs, language, material artefacts and shared systems of attitudes and feelings.
D)All of these choices

Question 40

Managers and employees are arranged in roles that make some subordinate to others.This process of arranging people in the workforce into these roles is called:

A)priority differentiation.
B)subclass analysis.
C)explicit role classification.
D)social organisation.

Question 41

What are the six rules which serve as a summary of how culture and its appreciation may serve as a tool to ensure marketing success?

Question 42

The increase in international activity of global firms has increased the need for:

A)gender role analysis.
B)political capital.
C)cultural sensitivity training.
D)negotiation skills.

Question 43

Which of the following is one way in which companies have tried to avoid the training problem inherent in being an international company?

A)Hiring nationals to staff overseas operations
B)Standardising all procedures in English operations
C)Hiring staff with overseas business experience
D)Hiring nationals to staff overseas operations and hiring staff with overseas business experience

Question 44

The universal ground rules that managers acquire as a result of involvement in the international arena are called:

A)cultural generalities.
B)meta-knowledge.
C)global immersion rules.
D)universal algorithms.

Question 45

Why has management in global firms instituted internal cultural education programs?

A)To improve the ability to employ locals in overseas posts
B)To identify task orientation and cultural acceptance
C)To foster cultural sensitivity and acceptance of new ways of doing things
D)To follow government mandates

Question 46

The Chinese concept of guanxi is:

A)a set of exchanges of favours to establish trust.
B)a trust system used by Chinese criminals.
C)the belief that business partnerships can be built on marriage between business heirs.
D)the preference to use family members as business partners.

Question 47

According to the textbook, which of the following can be a segmentation variable if the degree of industrialisation of the market is used as a basis?

A)The level of financial and marketing infrastructure
B)The level of material culture
C)The level of economic infrastructure
D)The level of social wealth

Question 48

Which of the following is a form of training that is rarely used because of the expense?

A)Sensitivity training
B)Cross-cultural assimilation
C)Area study
D)Field experience

Question 49

Elaborate on the following statement: 'The most complicated problems in dealing with cultural environment stem from the fact that we cannot learn culture, we have to live it.'

Question 50

Which of the following is a complicated and challenging element of the international marketplace?

A)Television
B)Media in general
C)Culture
D)Foreign exchange rates

Question 51

Which of the following is a problem that managers face when working in foreign markets?

A)The manager will always be a foreigner.
B)They must adhere to home country government patents.
C)Restrictions on trade imposed by UNESCO will thwart many of their efforts.
D)They may face retrenchment outside the home country.

Question 52

Explain, using examples, the differences between high context and low context culture.Why is this relevant to a marketer?

Question 53

A key variable of cultural analysis models is:

A)propensity to change.
B)change agents.
C)undifferentiated analysis.
D)differentiated analysis.

Question 54

Which of the following is incorrect?

A)In order to incorporate the lower power distance within the market, services should be informal and friendly.
B)Western countries highly regard individualism, so promotional appeals should be relevant to the individual.
C)Australia and New Zealand have almost identical scores across all five Hofstede dimensions.
D)Japan has a high uncertainty avoidance, which means that Japanese consumers are willing to take more risks.

Question 55

Which of the following is the term used to describe the belief that one's own culture is superior to others?

A)Unilateral fundamentalism
B)Ethnocentrism
C)Imperialism
D)Projected culturalism

Question 56

Primary reference groups do not include:

A)family.
B)trade organisations.
C)co-workers.
D)local communities.

Question 57

The objective of formal training in international and intercultural competence is to foster the four critical characteristics of:

A)sensitivity, patience, preparedness and language.
B)preparedness, sensitivity, patience and flexibility.
C)language, patience, preparation and sensitivity.
D)patience, sensitivity, language and patience.

Question 58

Which of the following is not one of Hofstede's cultural dimensions?

A)Power distance
B)Uncertainty avoidance
C)Humane orientation
D)Gender-role orientation