Cultural Differences In Chinese Culture

A major aspect of international branding is whether or not a firm decides to adapt or standardize its brand. In actual sense, the majority of global brands such as Coca Cola,

McDonald’s and Nike tend to standardize not only their brand, but the majority of their marketing mix (product, price, place and promotion). Normally a major factor hindering firms when it comes to making an adaptation to the extent that the foreign market is culturally distant from its home market.

Hofstede (1980) has researched the nature and extent of cultural differences. He conceptualizes “culture” as the "collective programming of the mind". As individuals mature in any culture their assumptions about the way a society should be organized are instilled into them.

He Chunsheng (1997: 182) highlights the issues that Chinese firms face when changing their brand names into English. “The Bai Xiang battery made in Shanghai enjoyed a good reputation in international markets; sadly, in 1976 the company management translated it into an English brand name – White Elephant. In Britain, sales dropped dramatically and the company did not understand why. Later someone mentioned to the management that White Elephant does not really refer to an elephant that is white in its color; actually in English it also means a costly but useless thing. Nobody will buy a product that is costly but useless.” According to Usunier (2002: 330), international companies face three situations in terms of international brand

Brand France and French brands are perfect Examples to show these dynamics. France, as a nation brand has a strong image in the internationalization stage: the Eiffel Tower, the language, French perfume, nouvelle cuisine all add to an image of a romantic and culturally inclined nation (Lou and Davies 2006). Many international brands have a basic credibility, which is based on a national image. Accordingly, Coca-Cola is a typical American drink; Marlboro (cigarettes) is in fact an American brand because of the Marlboro cowboy. Chanel No.5 is based on the image of French luxe and haute couture, conveyed by the character Chanel. Buitoni is understood as Italian pasta and Johnny Walker is a synonym for whiskey from Scotland (Usunier 2002: 339). The major challenge for China is how to copy the likes of France, Germany and its Japanese neighbor by developing a well-known, established country brand that shows a positive image. China has a legion of well-known domestic brands such as the ‘Flying Pigeon’ Bicycle maker and ‘White Rabbit’ candy. Yet these brands have yet to fully penetrate international markets. Given China’s association with bicycles, perhaps Flying Pigeon is best placed to achieve this. The company is now embarking on taking a marketing orientated approach having introduced a range of more than 300 models (www.chinadaily.com). However, one has to question