Analysis of Cultural Differences and their Effects on Marketing Products in the United States of America and Germany with a Focus on Cultural Theories of Hall and Hofstede

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2012 in the subject Business economics - Offline Marketing and Online Marketing, grade: 1.7, University of Applied Sciences Essen, course: Analysis of Cultural Differences and their Effects on Marketing Products in the United States of America and Germany with a Focus on Cultural Theories of Hall and Hofstede, language: English, abstract: This thesis aims at analysing cultural differences and their effect on marketing products internationally. The United States of America and Germany are used to exemplify this issue. Today's science provides numerous approaches to making cultural differences visible and tangible. All of these solutions and dimensions give companies, and people in general, a guide to becoming aware of and understand differences and how to cope with them appropriately. Trompenaars, a famous consultant for intercultural communication, uses the allegory of a fish and its habitat, water, to explain the characteristics of culture: 'A fish only discovers its need for water when it is no longer in it.'2 Accordingly, culture can be seen as the substance that surrounds a human being and makes him unable to distinguish between different and normal. Therefore, this thesis uses the cultural theories of Edward T. Hall and Geert Hofstede, who both developed approaches to cultural differences by using either a four- or five-dimensions model. These cultural dimensions will be applied to the special circumstances and conditions which a marketer has to deal with in the United States and Germany and thus draws connections between those two different fields of science. As already mentioned in section 1.1, cultural differences play an important role in today's international marketing. It is therefore important to examine if and how cultural differences, according to Hall and Hofstede, affect parts of the marketing mix for companies selling products in the United States as well as in Germany. The following questions can help to identify the necessary steps: What cultural differences, in both the United States and in Germany, could have an impact on marketing the products of companies selling in those countries? What impact do cultural differences have on parts of the marketing mix? Which adaptions should marketers make to their marketing mix due to the cultural differences? Is standardisation a successful method in both international markets? The answers should help the marketer make the right choice between adapting products to local circumstances or selling and marketing the same product all around the world. This thesis will attempt to answer these questions by applying the above-mentioned cultural theories, and will provide suggestions for how companies from the USA or Germany should conceive parts of their marketing mix. It will further provide examples of culture-related marketing efforts.

Matthias Boeing, M.Sc., born in 1990 in Dorsten holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Management from the FOM University of Applied Sciences in Essen and a Masters of Science in International Business and Strategic Management from the University of York. The author also studied one semester at Boston University in the USA, where he acquired knowledge about cultural differences in academic courses as well as through direct interaction with various different cultures. This aspect also contributes to his interest in different cultures and their effects on business topics. Apart from his academic experience Mr. Boeing has gained work experience through different roles at E.ON Ruhrgas AG in Germany, in the consulting department of the German American Chamber of Commerce in New York City and as Management Consultant at PwC in Germany. He is currently employed at Daimler AG, the parent company of Mercedes-Benz, trying to define the impact of Digitalization on Finance.