{"id":184,"date":"2015-08-28T22:52:48","date_gmt":"2015-08-28T22:52:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.candelalearning.com\/waymakerintromarketing1xmaster\/?post_type=chapter&p=184"},"modified":"2024-05-14T15:25:53","modified_gmt":"2024-05-14T15:25:53","slug":"outcome-cultural-groups","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymakerintromarketingxmasterfall2016\/chapter\/outcome-cultural-groups\/","title":{"raw":"Reading: Social Factors","rendered":"Reading: Social Factors"},"content":{"raw":"

People Influencing People<\/h2>\r\nSocial factors represent another important set of influences on consumer behavior. Specifically, these are the effects\u00a0of people and groups influencing one another\u00a0through culture and subculture, social class, reference groups, and family.\r\n

Culture<\/h3>\r\nA person's culture <\/em>is represented by a large group of people with a similar heritage. Culture exerts a strong influence on a person's needs and wants because it is through culture that we learn how to live, what to value, and how to conduct ourselves in society. The American culture, which is a subset of the Western (European) culture, will be the primary focus of this discussion, although other societies in other parts of the world have their own cultures with accompanying traditions and values.\r\n\r\nTraditional American culture values include freedom, hard\u00a0work, achievement, security, self-reliance, community involvement, and the like. Marketing strategies targeted to people with a common cultural heritage might demonstrate how a\u00a0product or service reinforces these traditional values. There are three components of culture that members of that culture share: beliefs, values, and customs. As discussed in the prior section, a\u00a0belief <\/em>is a proposition that reflects a person's particular knowledge or opinion of something. Values <\/em>are general statements that guide behavior and influence beliefs. The function of a value system is to help people choose between alternatives in everyday life and prioritize choices that are most important to them personally.\"A<\/a>\r\n\r\nCustoms <\/em>are traditional, culturally approved ways of behaving in specific situations. For example, in the United States, Thanksgiving is a holiday celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November with the custom of feasting with family and offering thanks for the things we appreciate in life. Taking your mother to dinner and giving her gifts for Mother's Day is an American custom that Hallmark and other card companies support enthusiastically.\r\n\r\nUnderstanding customs is hugely important for marketing to consumers, because many customs represent occasions for spending money, and culture dictates the appropriate things to buy in order to honor the custom. The power of culture is evident when you think about the tens of millions of Americans who buy Valentine's Day flowers in February, chocolate Easter eggs in April, Independence Day fireworks in July, Halloween candy in October, and all kinds of food and gifts throughout the holiday season.\r\n\r\nIt is worth noting that for marketers anywhere in the world, it is essential to develop a strong understanding of the local culture and its accompanying beliefs, values, and customs. Culture is how people make sense of their society, its institutions, and social order. Culture frames how and what people communicate, how they express what is proper and improper, what is desirable and detestable. Without an understanding of culture, marketers are not really even speaking the right language to the consumers they want to target. Even if the words, grammar, and pronunciation are correct, the meaning will be off.\r\n\r\nAn expensive example of a massive cultural blunder was Wal-Mart's short-lived foray into Germany. In 2006, the retailer pulled out of Germany after opening eighty-five stores in six years. The company expected success in Germany using the formula that works well in the U.S.: streamlined supply chain, low-priced products sold in big stores with wide selection and long operating hours. What Wal-Mart didn't account for was the strong cultural preference in Germany for several things that directly oppose the Wal-Mart model. Germans prefer small and medium-sized retailers grounded in local communities. They have a cultural suspicion of low prices, which create concern about quality. German law includes significant restrictions on retail establishments' operating hours and many labor protections, and these laws are viewed, in part, as important in\u00a0protecting the German quality of life.\u00a0Due in large part to these cultural disconnects, Wal-Mart was unable to sustain successful operations.[footnote]https:\/\/journalofinternationalmanagement.wordpress.com\/2011\/05\/16\/walmarts-downfall-in-germany-a-case-study\/<\/a>[\/footnote]<\/span>\r\n

Subculture<\/h3>\r\nSubcultures are cohesive groups that exist within a larger culture. Subcultures develop around communities that share common values, beliefs, and experiences. They may be based on a variety of different unifying factors. For example, subcultures exist around the following:\r\n