THE FOUNDATIONS OF CULTURE
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story is a good illustration of how history and geography can affect public and
political attitudes in the present and far into the future. To the Panamanians
and much of Latin America, the Panama Canal is but one example of the many U.S.
intrusions during the early 20th century that have tainted U.S.–Latin American
relations. For the United States, the geographical importance of the Panama
Canal for trade (shipping between the two coasts via the canal is cut by 8,000
miles) makes control of the canal a sensitive issue, especially if that control
could be potentially hostile. That a Chinese-owned company has operational
control of both the Pacifi c and Atlantic ports and could pose an indirect
threat to the Panama Canal Zone concerns the U.S. government. The recent
history of U.S. confl ict with China and the history of Western domination of
parts of China create in the minds of many an adversarial relationship between
the two countries. Furthermore, some wonder if Panama would be reluctant to ask
the United States to intervene at some future date, perhaps fearing that the
Americans might stay another 98 years. Although the probability of China
sabotaging the canal is slim at best, historical baggage makes one wonder what would
happen should U.S. relations with China deteriorate to the point that the canal
were considered to be in jeopardy.
Here we begin the discussion of the Cultural Environment of Global Markets. Culture can be defi ned as a society’s accepted basis for responding to external and internal events. To understand fully a society’s actions and its points of view, you must have an appreciation for the infl uence of historical events and the geographical uniqueness to which a culture has had to adapt. To interpret behavior and attitudes in a particular culture or country, a marketer must have some idea of a country’s history and geography.
The
goal of this chapter is to introduce the reader to the impact of history and
geography on the marketing process. The infl uence of history on behavior and
attitudes and the influence of geography on markets, trade, and environmental
issues are examined in particular.
Historical Perspective in Global Business
History helps defi ne a nation’s “mission,” how it perceives its neighbors, how it sees its place in the world, and how it sees itself. Insights into the history of a country are important for understanding attitudes about the role of government and business, the relations between managers and the managed, the sources of management authority, and attitudes toward foreign corporations.
To understand, explain, and appreciate a people’s image of itself and the attitudes and unconscious fears that are refl ected in its view of foreign cultures, it is necessary to study the culture as it is now as well as to understand the culture as it was that is, a country’s history.
Most
Americans know the most about European history, even though our major trading partners
are now to our west and south. Circa 2008, China became a hot topic in the
United States. It was back in 1776 as well. In a sense, American history really
begins with China. Recall the Boston Tea Party: Our complaint then was the
British tax and, more important, the British prohibition against Yankee traders
dealing directly with merchants in Canton. So it is worthwhile to dwell for a
few moments on a couple of prominent points in the history of the fast
burgeoning market that is modern-day China. James Day Hodgson, former U.S. Labor
Secretary and Ambassador to Japan, suggests that anyone doing business in
another country should understand at least the encyclopedic version of the
people’s past as a matterof politeness, if not persuasion. 1 As important
examples we offer a few perhaps surprising glimpses of the past that continues
to infl uence U.S.–Asia trade relations even today.
