Global consumer culture is a beguiling illusion and a gangerous Essay

Global consumer culture is a beguiling illusion and a gangerous fiction for the marketing manager - Essay Example The Association of Qualitative Research has defined consumer culture as: â€Å"Consumer culture suggests that consumption - the act of buying goods or services - is a cultural activity, one imbued with meaning and driven not just by practical or economic factors. Mapping and exploring the business implications of these cultural meanings is one of the principal functions of qualitative market research.† By reviewing the above definition we can conclude that cultural values directly influence the consumption patterns of buyers. Therefore, in order to create a global consumer culture it is essential to carry out an in-depth investigation and research of the local traditions, customs, language, heritage, norms, values and ethics of target foreign market in order to maximize the opportunities of success and minimize the risks of failure. In this way, the process of globalization will meet the standards of localization. GLOBAL CONSUMER CULTURE: Since late 20th century the world has become a global village. Due to faster means of communication, rapid advancement in technology, easy means of transportation and increased international business transactions; the barriers between cultural and regional boundaries are almost eliminated. Over the years the religious and cultural tolerance among various societies has increased dramatically and people no longer resist living in metropolitan cities where people from different countries, cultures, societies and political backgrounds live together. ... Due to faster means of communication, rapid advancement in technology, easy means of transportation and increased international business transactions; the barriers between cultural and regional boundaries are almost eliminated. Over the years the religious and cultural tolerance among various societies has increased dramatically and people no longer resist living in metropolitan cities where people from different countries, ethnicity, cultures, religions, societies and political backgrounds live together to form one large society which has colors of many sub-cultures. However, on one hand the idea of global village has played an important role to remove the differences among various segments of society and to provide equal opportunities to everyone irrespective of cast, color, creed, sex or background. But on the other hand, the concept of universal culture is very dangerous as it completely ignores the concept of â€Å"nationalism† and the religious and cultural values the sh apes up the national identity of the people in different countries. Therefore, marketers need to weigh the pros and cons of entering the foreign market and the barriers to their success. D. ADVANTAGES OF GLOBAL CONSUMER CULTURE: According to Scott Gay, (2006) â€Å"a global consumer is the product of cultural convergence spearheaded by industrialized nations† because the customer choices are becoming alike due to the phenomenon of global village. Globalization offers many advantages to the manufacturers who have potential to market their products on international scale and give their brands a global presence. However, every product can’t have global impact. For instance; a farmer in Asia can produce wide range of products by full capacity

Why Organisations Should Spend Time Gathering Secondary Data Prior to Coursework

Why Organisations Should Spend Time Gathering Secondary Data Prior to Undertaking Primary Research - Coursework Example An organization may carry out primary research in which researchers gather facts about the prevailing situation through observation, surveys, and behavioral data and through experimentation. Most organizations initially gather secondary data before undertaking the primary research. Secondary data are data about the subject at hand that may be already into existence somewhere within the reach of the organization, having being collected by the organization or another body and therefore the information may be useful partly or wholly in handling the problem at hand. Reasons Why Organizations Spend Time Gathering Secondary Data The information that already exists somewhere may help the researching organization in expanding its knowledge regarding the problem to be solved. The company may use such report to find out what others have done in a particular field of study. The secondary data may also help an organization it its preparation for primary research, by helping in identifying the to ols and materials that need to be used in order to make the future research successful. The secondary materials may also help an organization to understanding the progress that other researchers have made. This help in avoiding certain research problems in order to use the available resources effectively. The company may also use the secondary data to identify the needed resources for the research work to be successful. It helps in setting realistic period for the research work that the organization intends to undertake, and to assemble a team of researchers for different roles in the research process. Advantages of Using Secondary Data Data collected externally may be more objective since no one within the organization may have influenced the outcome of the data. This is usually useful when the data needed to solve the current problem does not exist anywhere in the organization, it may be appropriate to obtain the data that may have been collected by other pioneer organizations in the same industry. This helps the researchers to identify areas of focus to solve the problem effortlessly. Using data that was collected by other organizations in solving related problem is part of the learning process that is useful when handling many research problems for the first time. This helps in avoiding some obvious mistakes that may lead to wastage of resources and time in the earlier researches (Kotler et al, 2009) The organization may find relevant data that touches similar problems that the company is seeking to solve. In marketing, it is common knowledge that all products goes through the product life cycle and all organizations goes through the same learning curves. It is therefore a reality that the problem that any organization may be dealing with at present may have been faced by another organization in the past. When data is acquired from other organization, it may influence the learning process much faster for smaller organization, whose resources are constraine d. It is cheaper to obtain in different forms of research findings as needed by the organization for solving a specific problem at hand. The process of obtaining materials that already exist to be used in solving a related marketing problem is shorter. The processes of obtaining such existing data may at time cost the organization almost nothing or only a small cost may be involved. This is useful when there is need to save on the cost and time availability. Secondary data is readily available in variety. Today the world is today experiencing information explosion, and therefore every type of information that may be needed by