International marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

International marketing - Essay Example However, globalization has not diminished social and cultural differences across markets which suggest that marketing communication strategy needs to address these differences when communicating across cultures. Hofstede’s dimensions of national culture are the most widely applied theory in understanding national and international markets. This paper argues that the concepts of self, personality and identity differ across culture which in turn influences advertising strategy across different markets. However, advertising strategy cannot solely be based on Hofstede’s dimensions of culture. Other factors and variables could also influence the advertising appeals. It is essential to understand how advertising works in different cultures and to understand this, the advertising value has to be perceived in the right manner. Consumers and Cultural dimensions Culture is the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or category of people fr om another (Hofstede, 1990). National culture differentiates one nation from another but within the national culture several subcultures may exist. Consumers differ not only in their lifestyle, beliefs, attitudes and buying habits and at the root of all these, is the difference in culture. Cultural values actually represent the core beliefs of the society. It also includes education, religion and the physical environment. Attitudes develop over time and can change with age and education. In personal communication verbal and body language both can difference across cultures. Understanding cultural differences is a prerequisite for international advertising as a culture’s values are reflected in its advertising (Aillaud & Hahnel, 2006; Chang et al, 2009; Alozie, 2010). Culture and advertising Culture and advertising are inherently related and beliefs towards advertising differ across cultures (Liu et al, 2011). Advertising represents a special type of mass media discourse where verbal and non-verbal messages are unified into a single entity (Ustinova, 2008). Advertising merges the voices of authority and intimacy as they are constrained by the need to fulfill the wishes of their clients. Advertising is closely related to culture and must be adapted to meet the consumer’s needs. Tastes and desires may have become homogenous; values and needs have not become universal (Cemalovic, 2009). Cultural differences continue to exist in language, customs, and habits which heighten the importance of localizing the marketing strategy. Cultural values are an integral part of the consumer’s self. Therefore, for advertisements to be effective, they should be centered on the customer. Mental and social processes also make a difference in how advertisements are perceived (Mooij & Hofstede, 2010). Mental processes are internal – how people learn, perceive and process messages. Social processes include motivation and emotions. Both these processes affect mass communication and interpersonal communication which in turn impact the advertising appeals and advertising style. Advertising appeal and culture While designing advertisements the consumers must be focused upon. Culture influences various elements of consumer behavior and each of these have to be considered by the marketers when designing advertisements. Consumers differ in how they process information and perceive the message. Advertising appeals are specific approaches that marketers use to communicate

Human Resources Information Technology Systems Research Proposal

Human Resources Information Technology Systems - Research Proposal Example 221) "The key to the integrity and ease of maintenance of your decision support applications is to have a repository of high-quality, stable data. The data warehouse is an ideal foundation for building these data marts. The data warehouse contains the basic ingredients that ensure the success of your strategic analytical environment'" (Inmon, Imhoff & Sousa,2001, p.190) "The data mart is customized or summarized data that is derived from a data warehouse and tailored to support the specific analytical requirements of a given business unit of business function'" (p. 195) These three references summarize the purpose of a business information system architecture that can provide analytic resources for key business decision making while facilitating data input required for daily business operational functions such as payroll, benefits, etc. The following proposal will align the development of new Human Resources Information Technology Systems with goals of reduced manhours, smoother data input, and greater data accessibility and accuracy. Presently, low level data input is being accomplished by high level employees thus wasting the time of those personnel; i.e. simple data input that the employee him/herself could input on a real time basis is now being input from paper records by HR personnel. This generates repetitive, time wasting tasks and introduces more chances for data errors and escapes. There are also disparate databases which make data mining and analysis more inefficient than it should be. On a functional level, this system of disparate, non-centralized databases requires employees to access multiple sites to gain the information required for a single task such as processing a new employee. All of these factors create indirect, and often unrecognized, costs to the business. Objectives: 1. Establish a single HR data warehouse that extracts and normalizes data from multiple input sources to provide user defined reports that expedite data mining and analysis of data pertinent to the specific function of that user. Specific business unit and/or departmental data marts can also be created from this data warehouse. 2. Synergize this data warehouse with an integrated On Line Transaction Processing (OLTP) system so that data is retained for analysis by business administrators while supplying operational business functions such as payroll and benefits with the basic data required to perform those functions. 3. Format collected data in a way that can be used by other key collateral business functions such as benefits and Human Resources. 4. Provide a facility for employees to not only input their own data (ex. Time expense, changes in personal data, etc.), but also be able to retrieve and review their own data in real time on the organization's intranet. 5. Integrate and streamline HR requirements for recruitment by creating a central depository of applicant information including copies of their resumes. 6. "Mistake Proof" data entry by establishing input metadata that requires the employee to input correctly formatted data (i.e. numbers for number fields, text for text fields, etc.) and complete information (compulsory fields that will not allow saving the information until they are completed). 7. Establish a scalable system that can