Slide 9.

Marketing
Across
Cultures
Chapter 9
Product policy 1:
Physical, service and symbolic attributes
Usunier & Lee, Marketing Across Cultures, 4E

Pearson Education Limited, 2005

Slide 9.2

Product policy: adapt or standardize

Levitts (1983) thesis on the globalization of markets

Standardize as much as feasible

a lot can be done

Customize when needed around a standard core product

Coca Cola or McDonald's

In global industries (more standardization opportunities),

firms which standardize show superior performance

Within an industry (similar world markets & opportunities),

firms which customize perform better (Samiee & Roth, 1992)

A down-to-earth approach based on product attributes

Usunier & Lee, Marketing Across Cultures, 4E

Pearson Education Limited, 2005

Slide 9.3

Standardization: Product element

78% product quality

48% design & features

72% brand name

45% pre-sales service

71% image

67% performance

43% after sales

service & warrantees

54% size & colour

42% delivery & install

52% packaging & style

Usunier & Lee, Marketing Across Cultures, 4E

Pearson Education Limited, 2005

Slide 9.4

Levels of product attributes

A car :

Steel+plastics+length+weight, etc.

Number of persons, gas mileage, level

of comfort

Luxury, economy, dynamism, sporty,

A Perfume :

Physical base: scents based on

flowers, fruits, woods, spices, animals
scents

Deodorize, cover odours, etc.

Feminine/Masculine, Old/young, etc.

Usunier & Lee, Marketing Across Cultures, 4E

Symbolic
Attributes
Service
Service
Attributes
Attributes
Physical
Physical
Attribute
Attributes

Pearson Education Limited, 2005

Slide 9.5

Product attributes

Physical attributes (size, weight, colour, etc.)

Service attributes are difficult to standardize:

The greatest potential for economies of scale

Delivery differs widely
Performed in direct relation to local customers
More dependent on culture

Symbolic attributes (interpretive attributes, brand, origin)

Ambiguous: consumers have confused attitudes

A liking for domestic goods based on nationalism

A penchant and even fascination for foreign cultures and goods
National identity symbols intermingle with symbols of exoticism

Usunier & Lee, Marketing Across Cultures, 4E

Pearson Education Limited, 2005

Slide 9.6

Table 9.1 Factors inuencing adaptation or standardization of product attributes

Usunier & Lee, Marketing Across Cultures, 4E

Pearson Education Limited, 2005

Slide 9.7

Physical attributes

Compulsory adaptations

The trend towards international standardization

climate, usual sizes and packaging, technical standards, hygiene

regulations, basic differences in consumer taste

CEN, CENELEC, ETSI and ISO

New production methods allow for a better compromise

between customized products and large-scale
manufacturing operations

different products based on common parts

lagged differentiation
international product design

Usunier & Lee, Marketing Across Cultures, 4E

Pearson Education Limited, 2005

Slide 9.8

Service Attributes

Elements
Repair

& maintenance
Installation
Instructions
Waiting time
Guarantees
Spare parts availability
Return of goods

Usunier & Lee, Marketing Across Cultures, 4E

Environmental factors
Technical

expertise
Labour costs
Literacy
Climate
Remoteness
Performance

Pearson Education Limited, 2005

Slide 9.9

Service attributes

Difficult to standardize

Differences in delivery

Limited potential for pure economies of scale

Some potential for economies related to learning

international transfer of knowledge is a key issue

Delivery processes vary cross-culturally

Level of performance
Style of personnel in contact and attitudes in customer
interactions
Culture and waiting time: pre-, in- and post-process

Usunier & Lee, Marketing Across Cultures, 4E

Pearson Education Limited, 2005

Slide 9.10

What does 99% quality mean?

How many hours of safe drinking water per

month? 7 of 720 hours...

How many unsafe plane landings per month?

How many babies dropped at birth per year?

How many cheques taken from the wrong

accounts every hour?

How many parts missing from every new car?

How many times your heart fails to beat each

year? 32,000 times...

Usunier & Lee, Marketing Across Cultures, 4E

Pearson Education Limited, 2005

Slide 9.11

Gronrooss Service Quality Model

Expected
service

Service Quality

Perceived
service

Image

Technical
Quality
What is done
Usunier & Lee, Marketing Across Cultures, 4E

Functional
Quality
How it is done
Pearson Education Limited, 2005

Slide 9.12

Dimensions of Service Quality

Tangibles

Physical appearance of business, personnel, and

sales literature.

Reliability

Performing the promised service dependably and

accurately over time.

Responsiveness

The willingness to help customers and provide

needed services promptly. Resolving problems
quickly and answering questions intelligently and
honestly; keeping commitments.

Assurance

Service employees use knowledge and courtesy to

convey sense of trust and confidence; treat
customers with respect.

Empathy

Service employees convey to customers that the

customers are important; that they care about the
customers' problems.

Adapted from Zeithaml, Parasuraman, and Berry (1990), Delivering Quality Service: Balancing
Customer Perceptions and Expectations.
Usunier & Lee, Marketing Across Cultures, 4E

Pearson Education Limited, 2005

Slide 9.13

Cultural dimensions and automated

service
High Being
Affectivity Strong preference
for personnel in
contact
Neutrality

High Doing
Like the machine but
would like personnel
also

Do not like the

Strongest preference
machine but do not for purely automated
like people either
service

Usunier & Lee, Marketing Across Cultures, 4E

Pearson Education Limited, 2005

Slide 9.14

Categories of symbolic attributes

Symbolic associations related to physical attributes

Meanings related to the brand name

product/corporate

Connotative meaning of product-design and aesthetics

colour of a product, its shape,...

Functional? Easy-to-use? Modern? Luxurious?

Consumer perceptions of product origin

if they are searching for this information,

it is available, and
they take origins into account

manufacturing origin (made-in)

country of design
country suggested by the brand name

Usunier & Lee, Marketing Across Cultures, 4E

Pearson Education Limited, 2005

Slide 9.15

Symbolism: In every culture, things,

numbers, even smells have meanings

Black is not universal for mourning

Red is in the United Kingdom or France

Yellow is more feminine in many other

parts of the world

it is associated with illness in the

Philippines

4 in Japan is like our 13 West

Pink is the most feminine in USA

In Africa it would be wrapped in red,

our colour for cinnamon...

Lemon scent suggests freshness in

the USA

Death in Turkey

Blue is the most masculine in USA

A candy wrapped in blue or green is

probably a mint in the USA

Red suggests good fortune in China

in many Asian countries it is white

Brazil it is purple
Mexico yellow
Ivory Coast dark red

7 is unlucky in Ghana, Kenya and

Singapore.

An owl is bad luck in India, like our

black cat.

In Japan a fox is associated with

witches.

Source: Copeland and Griggs, 1986, p. 63

Usunier & Lee, Marketing Across Cultures, 4E

Pearson Education Limited, 2005