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Social-cultural environment is one of the important components of the business environment. It is non- economic external component.

This factor is beyond the control of individual business unit. a business manager will have to adjust his business unit in accordance to this changes in social cultural environment. Business itself is social economic institution and business operates in this social economic environment. This environment is complex in nature. It is difficult to understand the exact changes taking place in this environment.

Meaning of socio-cultural environment


Socio-cultural environment refers to influence exercised by certain social and cultural factors which are beyond the control of business unit. Such factors include: attitude of people to work, family system, caste system, religion, education, marriage, habits, preferences, language, urbanization, customs and traditions, business ethics, social trends, social responsibility of business, etc. Socio-cultural environment is the interaction of social environment with cultural environment. Social environment refers to influence exercised by certain social institutions and social systems, like family, caste system, marriage, religion, etc. Cultural environment refers to influence exercised by cultural factors viz. peoples attitude to work, customs, value system, habits and preferences, education, languages, traditions, etc. Social and cultural environment affect each other. Both are related to each other and their relationship is so intense that their separate effect on business cannot be measured rigidly. Culture affects society. It affects all components of social environment. In fact, culture is central point of socio-cultural environment as any change in cultural factors will affect attitude, values, social customs, social institutions and social system, etc. culture shapes the thoughts and behavioral pattern of members of society. It shapes their customs, habits, beliefs, preferences, values, lifestyle, etc. Any change in cultural factors affects social environment. e.g., improvement in education level affects the lifestyle and thinking of persons living in society. With the advancement of education impact of casteism has reduced, mobility of people has increased; the role of women in society has also changed because of increase in their level of education. Education has also promoted urbanization. Similarly, increase in urbanization has promoted nuclear family system in place of joint family system. So, it is clear that cultural factors bring change in social systems and social institutions. In fact, both social and cultural factors are inter-related. Both affect each other. The change in socio-cultural environment further affects business.

Meaning of culture
In the narrow sense, Culture refers to activities such as dance, drama, festivals, music etc. But in true sense, culture includes: traditions, customs, preferences, habits, attitude, values, lifestyle, status of women, etc.

According to E.B.Taylor,
Culture is a part of civilization which includes knowledge, belief, art, morale, law, customs and other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society,

According to Kluckhohn
Culture is the total lifestyle of people.

Thus culture has following main features:


1. It develops from interaction among human beings in society. 2. It passes from generation to generation. 3. It is learnt by human beings right from childhood. It is learnt by human beings in the coure of development. 4. It is influenced by family system and society in which one lives. 5. It does not change in short-run. 6. It shapes human beliefs, preferences, lifestyle, it also shapes human value, i.e., what is right and what is wrong, what type of behavior is rewarding and what type of behavior is punishing. 7. Culture determines personality. It shapes the way we think, act and perceive others. 8. It is a learned behavior. Hence education also shapes culture. 9. It is very complex in nature.

Components of socio-cultural environment


The components of socio-cultural environment are: 1. Social institutions and systems 2. Social values and attitudes.

COMPONENT 1) RELIGION: - religion plays an important role in social system. it has considerable influence on business and work culture. it affect beliefs, sentiments , customs , rituals and festival in social system. Religion also influence attitude towards work and wealth. It has its role in deciding nature of business, holidays, working hours, time when people purchase new clothes/domestic appliance etc. Religion has considerable influence on business. Some religions restrict their followers from doing a particular type of business. e.g.:- Jain religion does not allow its follower to engage in leather industry, cigarette manufacturing, wine making, sea food business. Islamic religion prohibits money lending and payment or acceptance of interest . Even Islamic banks do not pay interest to depositors rather these bank distribute a part of their profits to the depositors. 2) SOCIAL VALUES &ATTITUDE Social values refer to beliefs regarding what is right and what is wrong. Different societies have different value system. a particular activity may be promoted by one value system, while the same activity may be condemned by other value system. Value system also affects business activities. One value system may allow the use of corruption / wrong practices to flourish in the business , while the other value system may be against such practices. Business ethics shape the value system of business by setting moral principles and rule of conduct applied to business. Code of ethics determines what is good, what is bad, what should be done and what should not be done etc. Attitude refers to how a person works at a particulars thing, how he perceives the things in a given situation, motivation, moral and other related aspects of human resources management are based on workers attitude to work. Attitude of people towards business largely depends on their culture. How a person looks at his work, depends upon his culture. People of different culture have different attitude towards work. Attitude to work varies from country to country. For example: Japanese are very hard working and they have high positive attitude towards work. So, they have great success in the business.

Education If level of education in a society is high i.e. most of the people are educated then it affects their social values and attitudes in a positive manner. Educated persons can easily distinguish between good and bad, right & wrong. Moreover, education persons have better attitude toward work. Educated even benefit business. Now business houses appoint MBAS as their managers. With the spread of education, our society is becoming a knowledge oriented society and the role of social customer and traditional is reducing. With the spread of education among women, their attitude towards work has changed. Now, they too supplement their family income.

BUSINESS ETHICS Ethics refer to code of conduct and moral principles applicable to business. Ethics shape social values, ethics help the business manager to know what is right and what should be done and what should be done and what should not be done. CONSUMERS PREFERENCES,HABIT&BELIEFS:- people of different culture have different likings, habit, beliefs etc. The companies, who are selling their product among different cultural groups, will have to modify their product according to customer, liking and habit. Different promotional strategies are framed for different cultural groups, who have different preferences, habits and beliefs. for example:- bicycle is promoted as means of transportation in undeveloped countries bicycle manufacturing companies ; while the same product is advertised as exerciser & as sports equipment in developed countries. Similarly promotional strategy for selling motor cycle in underdeveloped countries is to emphasis a low fuel consumption while in developing countries, it is promoted as a means for leisure and sporting.

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