Research Question Does the level of cultural understanding predict a good grade in International Marketing Class?

PROBLEM One of the most important social influences which have a profound impact on the way consumers perceive and behave is culture. Culture is defined as a pattern of assumptions, values, and beliefs whose shared meaning is acquired by members of a group. Attitudes, beliefs, and values affect the way people process and evaluate information from the environment. Some cultures may be universal and have the same meaning across time and geography and while other elements may be extremely culture specific. Conducting international business across boundaries requires interaction with people and their organizations, which are embedded in different cultural environments. This interaction can potentially lead to misunderstanding and business failures due to differences in values, beliefs, and norms. Therefore, understanding how cultural differences affect international business is very important because it can help predict responses of supplier, distributors, customers, and even competitors. With the globalization of markets, a good understanding of cultural differences is an integral part of success in an International Marketing Course. Culture has been recognized to have a general influence on consumption, in addition to serving as one of the key determinants of manner and approach in which company and individual do business to respond to international marketing strategy. An understanding of this knowledge will help students succeed in a highly competitive global environment. The focus of this ongoing study is to investigate if the understandings of cultural elements/knowledge help students achieve success in International Marketing Courses.

SUMMARY The intended effect of this investigation is to measure the extent to which students understand different cultures and how this understanding helps them succeed in an International Marketing course. By using this approach I hope to establish several aspects of cultural elements that are key to understanding International marketing courses. Results of this will assist in structuring effective teaching methodology and learning environment.

CAREER IMPACT One of the problems facing international managers is the inability to cope with cultural differences. This project, I anticipate, will help narrow this gap.

PRELIMINARY RESULTS Study Status: Ongoing Preliminary results indicate that knowledge of culture helps students’ understanding in an International Marketing Course. Based on the preliminary results, I have decided to extend this research to my BSAD 3750 Chinese Business Practices and Culture, a short-study tour abroad program conducted every spring semester to China. This course is designed for sophomores, juniors, and seniors to introduce them to the emerging market of China. Students who participated in this course are more likely to take the upper level courses in the future including international marketing. The course is also opened to the other students on campus. A total of 16 students participated in the study tour. Results of their knowledge on cultural elements prior to and after the short-study tour are currently being analyzed. Starting June 4th, 2008, I plan to accompany about 7 students to North African countries (Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco) to further test the effect of culture in their understanding of International Business. A pre-test survey will be administered to the students prior to their departing to North Africa in June 2008. At the conclusion of the Short Study Tour, I plan to retest the students and compare my results with my on-campus students, China and North Africa in order to compare the effect of cultural understanding as a predicament of success in International Marketing/Business Course.

METHODOLOGY My primary goal of this project is to evaluate the structure and content associated with understanding cultural difference in International marketing courses. To address this issue I surveyed students in my international marketing class to assess student understanding of cultural issues affecting International marketing during the Fall 2007 semester. At the beginning of the semester, I pre-tested students on their knowledge and awareness of cultural elements by incorporating questions relating to cultural issues in my assignments; in addition, I conducted a pre- and post- test on key cultural issues affecting understanding of International Business. About 32 students in my International Marketing class participated in this exercise. All the students who participated in this ongoing study have completed at least one business course. A questionnaire containing key major parts were used to survey the respondents. Part one of the survey instrument evaluated students’ understanding of cultural elements and other key related cultural issues affecting international business.

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