CHAPTER 3 - History and Geography try to be objective, but few can help filtering

THE FOUNDATIONS OF CULTURE events through their own cultural biases.4

LO1 The importance of history and geography in Our perspective not only influences our view of
understanding international markets. history but also subtly influences our view of
many other matters. For example, maps of the
Culture can be defined as a society’s accepted world sold in the United States generally show
basis for responding to external and internal the United States at the center, whereas maps in
events. To understand fully a society’s Britain show Britain at the center, and so on for
actions and its points of view, you must have other nations.
an appreciation for the influence of historical
events and the geographical uniqueness to LO5 The effect of geographic diversity on economic
which a culture has had to adapt. profiles of a country

To interpret behavior and attitudes in a Geography, the study of Earth’s surface,

particular culture or country, a marketer climate, continents, countries, peoples,
must have some idea of a country’s history industries, and resources, is an element of the
and geography. uncontrollable environment that confronts every
marketer but that receives scant attention. The
History helps define a nation’s “mission,” how tendency is to study the aspects of geography as
it perceives its neighbors, how it sees its place isolated entities rather than as important causal
in the world, and how it sees itself. Insights into agents of the marketing environment.
the history of a country are important for Geography is much more than memorizing
understanding attitudes about the role of countries, capitals, and rivers. It also includes
government and business, the relations between an understanding of how a society’s culture and
managers and the managed, the sources of economy are affected as a nation struggles to
management authority, and attitudes toward supply its people’s needs within the limits
foreign corporations. imposed by its physical makeup. Thus, the
study of geography is important in the
To understand, explain, and appreciate a evaluation of markets and their environment.
people’s image of itself and the attitudes and
un-conscious fears that are reflected in its Climate and Topography
view of foreign cultures, it is necessary to
Altitude, humidity, and temperature extremes are
study the culture as it is now as well as to
climatic features that affect the uses and functions
understand the culture as it was—that is, a of products and equipment. Products that perform
country’s history. well in temperate zones may deteriorate rapidly or
require special cooling or lubrication to function
LO2 The effects of history on a country’s culture LO3
adequately in tropical zones. Manufacturers have
How culture interprets events through its own
found that construction equipment used in the
Eyes
United States requires extensive modifications to
cope with the intense heat and dust of the Sahara
History is important in understanding why a Desert.
country behaves as it does, but history from
whose viewpoint? Historical events always are LO6 Why marketers need to be responsive to the
viewed from one’s own biases and self- geography of a country
reference criteria (SRC), and thus, what is
recorded by one historian may not be what A marketer needs to consider when assessing
another records, especially if the historians are the environmental aspects of marketing.
from different cultures. Historians tradition- ally Examining the world as a whole provides the
reader with a broad view of world markets and neglect.
an awareness of the effects of geographic
diversity on the economic profiles of various -Sustainable development
nations. Climate and topography are examined
Is a joint approach among those (e.g., governments,
as facets of the broader and more important businesses, environmentalists, and others) who seek
elements of geography. A brief look at Earth’s economic growth with “wise resource management,
resources and population—the building blocks equitable distribution of benefits and reduction of
of world markets— completes the presentation negative effects on people and the environment
on geography and global markets. from the process of economic growth.” Sustainable
development is not about the environment or the
-Geography, Nature, and Economic Growth economy or society. It is about striking a lasting
balance between all of these
Always on the slim margin between subsistence and
disaster, less-privileged countries suffer -Resources
disproportionately from natural and human-assisted
catastrophes.16 The Haitian earthquake disaster of The locations of Earth’s resources, as well as the
2010 is perhaps the prominent example. Climate available sources of energy, are geographic
and topography coupled with civil wars, poor accidents. The world’s nations are not equally
environmental policies, and natural disasters push endowed, and no nation’s demand for a particular
these countries further into economic stagnation. mineral or energy source necessarily coincides with
Without irrigation and water management, domestic supply.
droughts, floods, and soil erosion afflict them, often
leading to creeping deserts that reduce the long- LO7 The economic effects of controlling population
growth and aging populations
term fertility of the land.17 Population increases,
deforestation, and overgrazing intensify the impact
of drought and lead to malnutrition and ill health,
further undermining these countries’ abilities to
solve their problems. Cyclones cannot be prevented,
nor can inadequate rainfall, but means to control
-Dynamics of Global Population Trends
their effects are available. Unfortunately, each
disaster seems to push developing countries further Current population, rural/urban population shifts,
away from effective solutions. Countries that suffer rates of growth, age levels, and population control
the most from major calamities are among the help determine today’s demand for various
poorest in the world.18 Many have neither the categories of goods.45 although not the only
capital nor the technical ability to minimize the determinant, the existence of sheer numbers of
effects of natural phenomena; they are at the mercy people is significant in appraising potential
of nature. consumer markets. Changes in the composition and
distribution of population among the world’s
-Social Responsibility and Environmental
countries will profoundly affect future demand.
Management
Moreover, it now appears that demand for goods
Nations, companies, and people reached a worldwide can affect migration patterns as well, in
consensus during the close of the last decade: a reversal of the traditional causal relationship.
Environmental protection is not an optional extra; it Specifically, the global financial crisis that began in
is an essential part of the complex process of doing 2008 appears to have caused a (perhaps temporary)
business. Many view the problem as a global issue reversal of migrations from urban to rural areas
rather than a national issue and as one that poses within countries and from developed back to
common threats to humankind and thus cannot be developing countries internationally as employment
addressed by nations in isolation. Of special opportunities dry up in response to the decline in
concern to governments and businesses are ways to demand for goods and service
stem the tide of pollution and to clean up decades of
-Controlling Population Growth For most countries, mass immigration is not well
received by the resident population. However, a
Faced with the ominous consequences of the recent report from the United Nations makes the
population explosion, it would seem logical for strongest argument for change in immigration laws
countries to take steps to reduce growth to as a viable solution. The free flow of immigration
manageable rates, but procreation is one of the most will help ameliorate the dual problems of explosive
culturally sensitive uncontrollable factors. population expansion in less developed countries
Economics, self-esteem, religion, politics, and and worker shortage in industrialized regions.
education all play critical roles in attitudes about
family size.

Family planning and all that it entails is by far the

most universal means governments use to control
birthrates, but some economists believe that a
decline in the fertility rate is a function of economic
prosperity and will come only with economic World Trade Routes
development. Ample anecdotal evidence suggests
that fertility rates decline as economies prosper. For Trade routes bind the world together, minimizing
example, before Spain’s economy began its rapid distance, natural barriers, lack of resources, and the
growth in the 1980s, families had six or more fundamental differences between peoples and
children; now, Spain has one of the lowest economies. As long as one group of people in the
birthrates in Europe, an average of 1.24 children per world wants something that another group
woman. Similar patterns have followed in other somewhere else has and there is a means of travel
European countries as economies have prospered. between the two, there is trade. Early trade routes
were over land; later came sea routes, air routes,
-Rural/Urban Migration and, finally, some might say, the Internet to connect
countries.
Migration from rural to urban areas is largely a
result of a desire for greater access to sources of
education, healthcare, and improved job
opportunities. LO8 Communication infrastructures are an integral part of
international commerce
-Population Decline and Aging
An underpinning of all commerce is effective
While the developing world faces a rapidly growing communications—knowledge of where goods
population, the industrialized world’s population is and services exist and where they are needed
in decline and rapidly aging.57 Birthrates in western and the ability to communicate instantaneously
Europe and Japan have been decreasing since the across vast distances. Continuous improvements
early or mid-1960s; more women are choosing in electronic communications have facilitated
careers instead of children, and many working the expansion of trade. First came the telegraph,
couples are electing to remain childless. As a result then the telephone, television, satellites, mobile
of these and other contemporary factors, population phones,66 the computer, the Internet, and
growth in many countries has dropped below the combinations of them all.67 Map 5 in the
rate necessary to maintain present levels. Just to
following pages illustrates the importance of
keep the population from falling, a nation needs a
fertility rate of about 2.1 children per woman. Not
fiber optic cable and satellites in providing
one major country has sufficient internal population global communications. Each revolution in
growth to maintain itself, and this trend is expected technology has had a pro- found effect on
to continue for the next 50 years. human conditions, economic growth, and the
manner in which commerce functions. Each
-Worker Shortage and Immigration new communications technology has spawned
new business models; some existing businesses
have reinvented their practices to adapt to the
new technology, while other businesses have
failed to respond and thus ceased to exist. The
Internet and mobile phone revolutions will be
no different; they too affect human conditions,
economic growth, and the manner in which
commerce operates.