Reg No
Designation
Research Objectives 6
Background of Research 6
2. LITERATURE REVIEW 7
2.1 Emerging markets 7
2.2 Marketing in Emerging markets – Opportunities and Challenges 7
2.3 Marketing practices in Emerging markets 9
2.4 Advanced Marketing practices 10
2.5 Cross Cultural Management – Practical Examples 11
2.6 Cross Cultural Issues 12
2.7 marketing culturally sensitive products 12
2.8 Theoretical Models – Comparing First world and Emerging markets nation’s culture 15
Hofstede’s Dimensions of Culture 15
GLOBE FRAMEWORK 18
3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 21
3.1 Research Design 21
3.2 Data Collection Methods 21
3.3 Sampling procedure: 21
3.4 Statistical Tools and Data Analysis 22
4. ANALYSIS 23
4.1 Profile of the respondents 23
4.2 Cross cultural issues 27
4.3 Comparison of marketing practices in first world and emerging markets 28
4.4 Adoption of Advanced Marketing Approaches in emerging markets 29
5. CONCLUSION 30
6. BIBLIOGRAPHY 32
7. APPENDIX 35
Questionnaire40
LIST OF TABLES
LIST OF FIGURES
Abstract
The research study on cross cultural marketing first world (advanced marketing) vs. emerging markets (Libya & Egypt) begins with an introduction stating the research objectives. The background of Research is discussed in a brief manner. The literature review section begins with a discussion of the Emerging markets and the various opportunities and challenges of Marketing in Emerging markets are discussed in an elaborate manner. The Marketing practices in Emerging markets and the Advanced Marketing practices in the first world are discussed. Then the discussion shifts to Cross Cultural Management with Practical Examples and a discussion of the
Cross Cultural Issues. The controversial products that are not marketed and advertised in the Middle East because of cultural aspects, for example condoms, alcoholic beverages etc. are discussed in the marketing culturally sensitive products section. The Theoretical Models of Hofstede and GLOBE are discussed comparing First world and Emerging markets nation’s culture. The research design of the study is discussed in the research methodology section discussing the various data Collection Methods, Sampling procedure and the discussion of Statistical Tools and Data Analysis. The analysis of the primary data begins with the discussion of the Profile of the respondents, Cross cultural issues, Comparison of marketing practices in first world and emerging markets and adoption of Advanced Marketing Approaches in emerging markets. These analyses help in achieving the objectives of the research study. The conclusion summarizes the findings of the research study and explains the manner of achieving the various objectives of the research study. Overall, the research study gives a detailed explanation and comparison of the cross cultural marketing practices in the first world and the emerging markets.
1. INTRODUCTION
Cross cultural marketing is vital in the marketing field and the marketing managers must understand the importance of cross cultural marketing in various nations b studying the nation culture. Every nation differs in the culture aspect. According to the nature of the culture, marketing practices must be altered to achieve success in the This report aims to compare the cross cultural marketing practices in the first world with the marketing practices of the emerging markets like Egypt and Libya. Hofstede’s framework is the theoretical framework chosen and as a means of further justification, GLOBE framework is also adopted to compare the culture of the nations and study the cross cultural practices of first world and emerging markets. Cross cultural corporate examples are discussed in the research paper to identify the various issues of cross cultural management. Social marketing is getting popular in the emerging markets and a social marketing model along with advanced marketing practices and similar researches are used as the base for primary data collection in the research study.
Research Objectives
Background of Research
Cross cultural management has become mandatory with the globalization and the growth of multi national companies. The companies must consider the national cultural differences, religion, political scenario, social norms, language and other cultural determinants before starting their business. Culture can become a barrier for starting a business in a new country and hence a careful understanding of the culture is essential in establishing a company. Ragulan, (2010) states that the impact of the culture on business must be studied carefully and a good research on the target market regarding the cultural aspects has to be made. There might be cultural conflict within the organization and the management must do an internal research to identify the impact of culture among the employees. Change interventions can be made to make the employees adapt to the cultural changes. In some multi national companies there are standards and best work practices to mange cross cultural differences in the work place.
In recent years, cultural management was an emerging topic in the modern business management perspective because of the popular trend of economic globalization. More and more business organizations now were expanding their branch networks to other countries or regions and they also interacted with an increasing number of overseas stakeholders such as customer, supplier, etc. This research paper is going to investigate the importance of cross cultural management by comparing the marketing practices in first world and emerging markets.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Emerging markets
Gerard Chailand, (2010) defines emerging markets as the economically back ward or under developed nations Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Oceania etc. These emerging markets are highly characterized with high levels of poverty, illiteracy, high unemployment etc. Egypt and Libya are examples of the emerging markets.
Arab culture is followed in Egypt and Libya. Majority of the population speak Arabic and are Sunni Muslims. Muslims dominate the emerging markets with minority Christians constituting about 6 percent of the total population (Jacob Kolster, 2012). River Nile forms the major source of water for Egypt. Hence the Nile valley is densely populated constituting about 96 percent of the Egypt’s total population. The Nile valley comprises only 4 percent of the area of Egypt while other parts of Egypt are mostly deserts (Nono Matondo-Fundani, 2011). The Muslim culture and traditions are strictly followed here. Bread loafs are the major food item with traditional Muslim based food practices. The major festivals of Muslims here include Ramadan, Id al Adha, Id al Fotr, Prophet’s Birthday, Christmas, and New Year (Nono Matondo-Fundani, 2011) etc. Fasting is a practice of the Muslims and this is a tradition that is followed generation after generation.
Agriculture constitutes about 18 percent of the total GDP in Egypt (Nicholas s. Hopkins and Reem saad, 2010). Textiles, Cement and metal works form the other major industries in Egypt. Oil is the major export followed by agricultural products and services.
Muammar Gadaffi took over Libya with a group of Military officers from king Idris on 1st September 1969 (Mukhabarat, 2012). Gadaffi’s rule was autocratic and a lot of assassinations were held in public. Income of the nation grew rapidly with oil exports as the main source. Civil war against Gadaffi started on 21st February 2011 (Mukhabarat, 2012) following revolts in Egypt and Tunisia. France, UK and USA supported the rebels and attacked Gadaffi after the international criminal court issued an arrest warrant for Gadaffi. Finally on 23rd October 2011 (Mukhabarat, 2012), the civil war came to an end with the death of Gadaffi and reports indicated that more than 30000 Libyans (Mukhabarat, 2012) were killed in the civil war.
2.2 Marketing in Emerging markets – Opportunities and Challenges
Anthony O’Sullivan, Marie-Estelle Rey and Jorge Galvez Mendez, (2011) discusses the opportunities and challenges of marketing in the emerging markets. The revolutions and protests to get economic and political freedom that arise in Egypt and Tunisia spread across the region to Libya and other nations. This protests ended the regime of Muammar Qadaffi of Libya, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and Ben Ali of Tunisia etc. These protests led to the opportunities in political and economic system in these regions. The challenges faced by the emerging markets according to the OECD report include high unemployment levels, export fluctuation, increasing inflation, lack of entrepreneurship, deficits in current account and GDP etc. The following statistics by IMF, World Bank and OECD stand as evidence for these challenges in the emerging markets.
The figure 2.1 in appendix reveals that the unemployment rate in emerging markets including Egypt and Libya is increasing at a fast rate. This poses a big challenge for the emerging markets.
The inflation rate of the emerging markets including Egypt and Libya has been increasing rapidly after the economic recession in 2008 (See Figure 2.2 in Appendix). This indicates that the prices of the essential commodities in the emerging markets have increased to a great extent. The banking industry in these nations is not regulated in a proper manner to control the inflation rate. This is a major challenge for the emerging markets.
The GDP growth rate of emerging markets experienced a huge slump in the economic recession of 2008 and started recovering rapidly as indicated in figure 2.3 of Appendix. The GDP of emerging markets is mainly fuelled by the export growth and mainly due to the export of the oil reserves. This indicates a huge opportunity for the emerging markets. This fact is revealed in the figure 2.4 of appendix.
Oil is the major strength and opportunity of these emerging markets. The region has a rich natural reserve of crude oil. The export of Oil resources gives a major opportunity for emerging markets like Egypt, Syria and Libya etc. to engage in foreign exchange. The figure 2.4 of appendix gives a clear description of the role of exports in the economic development of emerging markets.
The foreign direct investment is increasing on a rapid basis from Asia and China in the emerging markets (See figure 2.5 in Appendix). Most of the FDI is in the energy sector and infrastructure development of these nations. This is an encouraging sign and an indication of positive growth offering opportunities to the world nations to invest in Egypt and other Arab nations.
The figure 2.6 of Appendix indicates one of the major challenges faced by the emerging markets in the form of lack of leadership and entrepreneurship. This forms a hindrance to the development of companies and industry as a whole. This also forms a source of the high unemployment experienced by the emerging markets. The government must ensure that proper steps are taken to encourage entrepreneurship in these regions. This remains a huge challenge.
The current account balance is on the negative side for Egypt continuously for three years which indicates the imports are higher than exports. The figure 2.7 in Appendix indicates this fact. This is not a positive sign and remains a challenge for the emerging markets.
The figure 2.8 in Appendix indicates that agriculture in the emerging markets is rising slowly. The contribution of agriculture to the GDP of the nation is about 20 percent on the average. This is a positive sign for the emerging markets and offers opportunities to businesses to flourish in the agricultural field.
The presence of China as a prominent investor in the emerging markets like Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria etc is growing rapidly. Most of the Chinese investments are in the energy sector, retail trade and infrastructure development (Janvier Liste and Lee, 2012) in these regions. Chris Alden, (2012) discusses that Chinese trade with the emerging markets is aimed at energy reserves for the growing population and demand for oil in China. Statistics reveal that China has invested about US $150 billion in 2011 in Arab and African nations rich in oil reserves. Egypt and China are close allies from the year 1956 with political ties.
Clive Crook, (2002) comments on the market economics being the key for economic development in the emerging markets compared to that of the orthodox economics. The emerging markets highly rely on the export of oil reserves and have been highly successful in this perspective. On the contrary, orthodox economics relies on the various economic indicators for the growth of the nation.
Sohan Sharma, Sue Tracy, & Surinder Kumar, (2004) comment on the invasion of US on Iraq as a measure of dollar imperialism. The US dollar was the dominant currency after the Second World War with huge reserves of Gold but the Vietnam War eroded the US reserves and the dollar became weak in 1970s with a spending of $500 billion in maintaining the military forces across the globe. Along with the oil reserves in US were depleted fully and this forced US to sign pacts with Saudi Arabia to safeguard it in exchange for oil. The war with Iraq is also a measure of acquiring oil reserves.
Banking is one of the major challenges facing the emerging markets. Majority of the people living in the emerging markets are poor and do not have a bank account. The banking practices of people in emerging markets like savings, borrowings etc. is not known. This statistic is very important for a marketer to market the products to the people. The absence of this banking data and about the personal finances of the people poses a big challenge to marketing in the emerging markets.
2.3 Marketing practices in Emerging markets
Nestle’s aggressive marketing in the emerging markets exploited the poverty prevailing in these regions. World Health organization, (2011) has reported that about 1.5 million babies are dying annually due to the aggressive marketing practices of companies. Nestle has been accused of selling harmful baby milk products that are harmful to the babies. Nestle products are sold in the emerging markets with no instructions and only with baby pictures. In the emerging markets, Nestle milk products are first given as free samples but these don not have the appropriate nutrient mix. Mothers mix the powder with contaminated water and feed the children. This results in malnutrition and death of children in certain cases. Nestle policy change in emerging markets are stressed by celebrities like Steve Coogan in boycotting the Nestle campaigns and programs (Magdalena Rebel, 2008).
Bruce Goldman, (2012) discusses that the economic crisis has brought an emerging markets like situation in the first world nations with high poverty, unemployment at high levels, high national debt, low household income, low consumer confidence etc. Unilever has adopted the Asian methods of packaging low quantities at a low price in Europe due to the economic crisis. Low price brands are also introduced in the market to maintain the profits. Surf is a world renowned laundry detergent and Unilever has started selling Surf in small sachets to the European customers due to the economic recession. Unilever was successful in bringing the marketing model adopted in the emerging markets to the first world nations as a result of the economic crisis.
Meredith Wood, (2012) states that emerging markets denotes the under developed countries. The author gives tips on dealing with these nations considering cross cultural marketing. As a marketing manager, it is essential to develop alternate networks that are informal in emerging markets for energy support as most of the businesses happen in an illegal manner in this part of the world. Another tip to marketing managers is that they must not over finance businesses in these parts as recovery is impossible. The marketing managers must analyze the market needs and sell only the essential product or service in the emerging markets nation to be successful.
Carote P. Duhaime, Ronald Mctavish, and Christopher A. Ross, (2012) discusses that social marketing can improve the living conditions in the emerging markets to a great extent depending on certain conditions and application of social marketing. Social marketing is a great solution to emerging markets development where people lack even the basic necessities of life. Marketing has a significant influence on the environment and contributes to the development of the emerging markets. Social marketing with the government involvement and not for profit organizations can develop the emerging markets to a great extent. The marketing aspect in emerging markets faces several challenges like culture, identity, socio economic conditions, meeting basic needs of humans, education, transportation, shelter, medical facilities etc. These issues must be addressed in a proper manner to achieve success in the emerging markets. In the case of emerging markets, development comes from bottom up with financial donations and charities playing a major role in the marketing.
The social marketing model proposed by Carote P. Duhaime, Ronald Mctavish, and Christopher A. Ross, (2012) comprises of five major dimensions to bring development in the emerging markets. The main dimensions of the model include political, social, economical, communication and cultural. Each of these dimensions of this social change model must be addressed to change the social conditions of the people in the emerging markets. The social marketing model aims at changing the behavior of the people. This model is adopted for the research work to study the marketing practices in the emerging markets. The attributes of each of the dimension is listed in the social change model (see figure 2.9 in Appendix)
2.4 Advanced Marketing practices
Christian Bluemel Huber, (2010) discuss that advanced marketing helps in modernizing the economies of the first world nations. The private sector is highly enhanced as a result of advanced marketing. Advanced Marketing enhances and supports the SME growth leading to creation of new jobs, developing skills and human capital. Advanced Marketing fosters the global integration promoting globalization.
Ellen McArthur, Dale Miller, (2011) discuss the evolution of modern marketing practices and modern marketing techniques like one stop shopping, fashion marketing, online marketing, social marketing, mobile marketing, innovation in supply chain etc. Modern marketing has its roots in the retailing with the environment having a huge influence on the marketing practices. All the marketing practices revolve around the three variables of firm, consumer and society.
2.5 Cross Cultural Management – Practical Examples
Pizza hut and Dominos entered in to India and changed their menus catering to the tastes and needs of the local customers. The product line of the companies changed according to the culture of India. Maggi Noodles marketed their product in the western countries as a dinner but in India, noodles was not accepted as a dinner as the culture and values of India have made that Chappathi, Roti and Idli to be the dinner items. Hence Maggi marketed the Noodles as a snack in India targeting the kids and succeeded. Also the company brought in new flavors like the masala, tomato and curry to capture the Indian market. Swarovski a crystal venture based in Czech Republic incurred losses in the initial stages of its operation in India. In their country, crystals were given as gifts on marriages but in India, only gold and silver are considered as precious metals and are gifted on marriages and hence the company was unable to get the customers and establish a market. Then after careful analysis of the Indian market, Swarovski company came up with a new idea of selling sarees studded with crystals and changed their business to garment based crystal company and succeeded. In all these cases, culture has played a major role and the companies have changed their product line to cater to the culture (Roberto A. Weber, Colin F. Camerer, 2003).
Coca cola also understood the importance of culture in India and has showed their emphasis on culture in their advertisements. The company uses the film stars to advertise their products in the mass media. In the north, Coco cola uses Aamir Khan as the brand ambassador and in the south Vijay is the brand ambassador for Coke. The people in the respective culturally bound regions of India will see the advertisements of their known personalities and buy the product. This clearly indicates that culture plays a major role in selling the products to the target customers.
There are instances for companies failing due to culture including Enron. Enron Corp., which in December 2001 became the largest ever U.S. Bankruptcy, didn’t fail solely because of improper accounting practices, although that was certainly a major contributor. It failed because it had a culture that pushed executives into unethical behavior (Tyson, 2002). Daimler motor company was started way back in 1893 and the company had a shake after the World War I and World War II. Daimler motors then grew aggressively through mergers and acquisitions starting with the acquisition of BSA. The merger of Daimler and Chrysler was one of the major failures and the reasons are mainly attributable to culture. Daimler Chrysler merger failed because of the cultural mismatch between the two companies.
Daimler Chrysler, one of the major business merger failures all over the world in 2007 was mainly attributed to culture and the merger broke after nine years. The merger proved disastrous and the Germans at Daimler cannot coup with the American culture of Chrysler and cross cultural issues arouse leading to the failure of the merger (Jeff Badrtalei; Donald L Bates, 2007). Daimler, a German company is highly disciplined while Chrysler, an American company is highly relaxed. The management styles differed greatly and a lot of Chrysler employees left the company and employees from both sides were dissatisfied. Daimler started dominating Chrysler units attempting a full take over and there were huge layoffs in Chrysler units. Cultural Conflict (Garry Dessler, 2004) was the main reason that led to the failure of the merger of the two companies. There was employee resentment among the employees of Daimler and the supervisors are highly de motivated and never train the employees.
Kari Heistad, (2011) discusses the various cross cultural marketing management techniques. The first step in effective cross cultural marketing is to understand the cultural background of the markets. A good knowledge of the cross cultural issues is essential for cross cultural marketing. The marketing manager must use the expertise of the company in the selected target market. The culture of the target country must be clearly analyzed using the Hofstede’s and GLOBE framework. A lot of emphasis must be given to non verbal communication. Constant cross cultural meetings must be arranged to ensure good relationships. Open ended questions must be asked to solve culture related problems. In most of the cross cultural communication, the role of translators is huge. Professional translators must be employed to ensure that communication occurs in a proper manner in both sides. Knowledge of the religion and the national holidays of the selected country is essential considering cross cultural marketing. This ensures that deadlines are met according to the plan.
2.6 Cross Cultural Issues
Naresh K. Malhotra, James Agarwal, Mark Peterson, (1996) discuss the various issues in cross cultural marketing research. A six step model is recommended to solve the methodological issues. The barriers are mainly related to language, communication, religion, social life style, practices, values etc.
Geng Cui, Tsang-sing Chan & Annamma Joy, (2008) discuss the differences in the attitude of the consumers about marketing in different countries. The authors study the cultures of China and Canada in detail and their perceptions on marketing. The findings reveal that Chinese have a more positive attitude to marketing compared to Canadians. The satisfaction levels of Chinese are high compared to Canada in marketing. Considering the complaints on marketing activities, Chinese report more complaints and have less consumerism attitude than Canadians. Chinese are better in complying with government actions and resolutions made in public. There is a negative correlation between individualism and consumerism for Canadians exhibiting a negative attitude towards marketing. This cross cultural marketing study revealed several implications for managing relationships with customers in their respective nations.
Kathy Tian, (2010) discusses the cross cultural issues in marketing including the political, economical, cultural factors etc. Among these the cultural factors are considered important for cross cultural marketing. The cross cultural aspects of advertising, sales, promotion, commercials, trade shows, public relations etc. must be considered carefully in cross cultural marketing and an appropriate mix must be employed.
2.7 Marketing culturally sensitive products
Kim Shyan Fam. David S. Waller. Zafer Erdogan, (2002) analyzes the influence of religion, culture and beliefs in advertising controversial products and services. The study was conducted with 1393 people as respondents from six countries grouped under four main religions. In Islamic religion, alcohol consumption is frowned according to the religious beliefs. This gives an indication that alcohol consumption is not forbidden by Muslims but according to religious beliefs, drinking alcohol is not recommended. In Saudi Arabia and other Islam nations, there are strict regulations on advertisements considering certain products including alcohol. There is a negative attitude of the Islamic people towards the advertisements pertaining to alcohol consumption and alcoholic beverages. Offensive advertisements do not change or alter the attitude and mind set of these people. The impact of the religious beliefs on the advertising of the controversial products is studied in detail in this research.
Broadly the controversial products are categorized in to alcoholic products, children averse and sex related products. The controversial or socially sensitive products that are not advertised in the Muslim regions include alcohol, under wear, cigarettes, contraceptives, charities, guns, gambling, funeral services, armaments, feminine hygiene products, VD, pharmaceuticals, condoms and political advertising (Kim Shyan Fam. David S. Waller. Zafer Erdogan, 2002). These products were grouped under sex related products, social, political, cultural, addictive and health care products. Advertising social and political group of products like guns, funeral services and armaments etc. ranked first on the offensive scale and were found to be culturally offensive. Islam showed strong offence to such advertisements. Advertising Addictive products like gambling, alcohol and cigarettes etc. were second offensive. These activities were considered strictly offensive according to Islam beliefs. In most of the Islam nations like Turkey, Pakistan etc. such advertisements are totally banned or restricted. Considering the sex related product advertising, Muslims show strong offence towards such advertising and especially with females in such advertisements, they are highly sensitive as this is against their religious and social values. Sex before marriage is considered a crime in Islam regions and against the Muslim faith. The Muslim religion through the rule of Khalwat states that a couple should not touch each other and avoid physical contact before marriage and also restrain themselves from meeting after sun set. The advertisements of female contraceptives and condoms encourage sex before marriage and hence these advertisements are strictly banned in Muslim nations. During the month of Ramadan, all such advertisements are totally banned and advertisers must ensure not to show such advertisements in the mass media during this holy month. Overall, the religious beliefs were found to have strong offence on advertising such products. Cultural sensitivity plays a critical role in advertising sensitive products as this reflects the personal level of the individuals in the target market.
Considering the alcohol advertising in advanced nations like United States, there are self regulatory bodies having standards for ethical alcohol advertising. Concern here is on the placement of the advertisements and in mass media, alcohol advertising is done in the place where the readers or viewers are above the legal drinking age. Cigarette based advertisements are now strictly prohibited. In Middle East nations and several Asian nations, public advertising on alcohol and Cigarettes have been totally banned. In countries like Malaysia, there are several restrictions of alcohol advertising and is allowed only after 10 P.M in televisions. Also the Malaysian government dominated with a Muslim Majority has restricted advertisements of controversial products that are religion sensitive.
AIDS was also considered as one such controversial service in the early years but now through social advertising, AIDS advertisements have become common in the Middle East. There are specialist magazines and newspapers that are used in advertising such controversial products. The marketing show conducted in the Middle East reveals the growth of social marketing and the importance of social media in advertising the controversial products and helping the marketers in the emerging markets. In the marketing show, it is revealed that social media advertising through mobile phones is the future trend in the Middle East. Marriott Hotels in Dubai have started this form of social marketing among its customers (Kim Shyan Fam. David S. Waller. Zafer Erdogan, 2002). The popularity of the social networking sites as a primary means of communication is also helping in the social marketing strategies. Social media has become a powerful means of communications in the Arab countries like Egypt, Libya, and Dubai etc. Emirates and Qatar Airways have used Face book as a means of social marketing to boost their sales in the Middle East countries.
There are certain issues in the social marketing like the security aspect in mobile books and the management of payment gate ways. Majority of the people in Arab nations are averse in using mobiles to get services of high value like booking air tickets due to the absence of security in the payments gateway in this media. Most of the people are unaware of this social media. Hence Infrastructure remains a key issue considering the social marketing and social media in the Middle East. Dubai Marriott Hotels have become the pioneer in using the social marketing strategy to advertise each area of its business. The social media like Twitter and Face book is used as a platform by the Marriott hotels to reach the customers. Similarly Pohlschmidt (Kim Shyan Fam. David S. Waller. Zafer Erdogan, 2002) has also started using the social media to reach its customers in the air line space. These social marketing and use of social media are emerging trends in the Middle East with companies pioneering in this method of marketing. Most of the travelers from Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other Middle East Nations have started using the social media in large numbers and this is believed to be the future of marketing in these nations. Smart phone based promotions is considered to be the next big thing in the Middle East and Marriott Hotels have started to offer promotions and sweep stake campaigns through the social media for customers using the smart phones.
Social marketing is proved to be an emerging and effective method of advertising the controversial products. Alcohol producers like Diageo and Heineken (Kim Shyan Fam. David S. Waller. Zafer Erdogan, 2002) have also used social marketing to advertise their products in the social media about the sports events they sponsor. Most of the alcohol advertising is done in the Middle East based on the sports sponsorships with Dubai playing the host of many sporting events like Formula 1, cricket, foot ball, horse race and golf etc. These advertising trends indicate the changing social conditions of the people in the Middle East. Also the growth in the number of expatriates in the Middle East has grown rapidly over the years that social media is used in large numbers. Heineken company management states that alcohol consumption in the Middle East has been increasing rapidly despite the lack of advertisement but with the emergence of the social advertising, they are able to market their malt based nonalcoholic products that help improve their sales further. Diageo on the other hand has established its presence in all major airports and have reported an increase of 16 percent in sales through advertising in the social media. The proposed world soccer in 2022 at Qatar offers immense opportunities to the alcohol producers in the Middle East.
Condoms are also considered a controversial product to advertise in Middle East but now Buzzman and Durex have advertised condom delivery as a service in Middle East. This advertising is done through the social media including the smart phone and dedicated web site of the company (Kim Shyan Fam. David S. Waller. Zafer Erdogan, 2002). The customers can order the SOS condoms through these channels to be delivered at their residence within an hour. This form of social marketing of Durex condoms was launched as a test in Dubai and is expected to be spread to all Middle East nations in future. These sorts of practices indicate that the rigid religious traditions of Middle East have now become flexible with the dominance of technology and changing social conditions. Social marketing is undoubtedly the future of marketing and advertising in the Middle East fueled by the youngsters and teenagers and the growth of social media. The earlier traditions and culture are slowly changing in the Middle East with the growth in the number of literates and the growing demand for internet and smart phones in the Middle East. The changing social, political, economical and technological conditions in the Middle East have resulted in the emergence of social marketing to market the controversial products in the Middle East as discussed above.
2.8 Theoretical Models – Comparing First world and Emerging markets nation’s culture
Hofstede’s Dimensions of Culture
Greet Hofstede Cultural Dimensions was developed based on collecting the data drew from IBM and its subsidiaries which covered more than 70 countries during 1967 and 1973. Hofstede's Framework discusses the dimensions of national culture as a result of the findings of a survey involving 116,000 employees working in IBM selected from 40 countries around the world. The study was conducted in the year 1970 to find out the variations seen among the employees and managers (Stephen P. Robbins, James, 2003). The dimensions are useful to illustrate the different values and beliefs hide in different nations. However, the different values and beliefs lead to different behavior towards people’s daily life as well as their workplace.
