Cultures versus Colours & the Perceptions of the Products (Brands)

Culture can be defined as the concepts, values and tangible items such as tools, buildings and foods that make up a particular society. Culture is passed on from one generation to another and is a kind of blueprint for the tolerable demeanor in a particular society. When products are introduced into one nation from another, recognition is far more likely if there are similarities between the two countries.

The connotations linked with body motions, greetings, colours, numbers, and shapes, sizes and symbols have different connotations in different cultures. For example, the use of colour has different connotations in different cultures as highlighted in a table 1.0 below. In many parts of Europe, black has negative overtones, whereas in the Middle East it has positive connotations.

It is vital to study and observe how the perception of the particular different cultures and their perception on colours can unify or boast your brand image positively or instead give negative effects to your brand. Hence, the cultural differences have distinct implications for products development, personal selling, advertising, packaging and pricing. Knowing another country’s customs play a role in a social interaction. For example, in Italy it is unacceptable for a salesman to call on a woman if her husband is not at home.

 

Colour in association in the UK and Taiwan

Table 1.0

Colour	UK Association	Taiwan Association
Green	Inexpensive, reliable, light and good tasting	Inexpensive, reliable, light and good
	old, quiet, traditional, trustworthy.	tasting.
	and safe.	Quiet, calm, male and old.
	Life, calm, tenderness, health and happiness	Safe, trustworthy, unadventurous and
	Environment. Natural, pure and fresh.	stable.
	Ireland and Italy to some extend.	Environment, life, tender, pure, fresh,
		natural.
		Ireland, and to some extend UK.
Red	Expansive, premium, high quality and good	High quality, expensive and good tasting.
	tasting.	Warm, female, loud, playful, and
	Young, warm, fun, loud, playful and happy.	adventurous.
	Dangerous, adventurous, luxurious and	Love, passion, danger and aggression
	exciting.	Life, excitement and happiness
	Life, love, passion, power and aggression.	US, and to some extent Italy
	China, and the US to some extend
Blue	Heavy reliable, high quality and expensive.	Heavy, reliable, high quality and expensive
	Male, mature, quiet, subdued, calm and	Male, old, quiet, serious
	thoughtful	Calm, dignified, trustworthy
	Serious, trustworthy, dependable, dignified	Sadness, depression and to some extend
	and sad	power
	US and UK to a limited extend
Black	Expensive, high quality, high tech and	High quality, high tech, premium and
	premium products.	expensive
	Old, heavy and reliable objects	Old, male, quiet and heavy
	Mysterious, luxurious, sophisticated, and	Mysterious, sophisticated and serious
	dangerous	Death, sadness, depression, power, fear
	Death, dignity, power and aggression	aggression
		Strongly, associated with China
Yellow	High quality, expensive, reliable, light and	New, expensive, light and good-tasting
	good-tasting	Young, warm, loud, playful and adventurous
	Pert, fresh and playful	Life, love, happiness and power
	Luxury, sophisticated and dangerous	Strong, associated with China
	Death, dignity, power and aggression
Purple	Expensive, luxurious and good-tasting	High Quality, premium and expensive
	Warm, and to some extend female	Warm, female, old and quiet
	Sophisticated and mysterious	Love, passion, luxury, sophisticated, and
	Death, dignity, passion and power	mystery
	France and to some extend Japan	Serious, sadness, dignity, power and
		aggression
		France, and to some extend Japan

 

 Source: Marketing Management, Vol. 15, pp.449-462.

 Copyright @Westburn Publishers L., 1995.

Perception of Key Brands in the UK and Taiwan

Brand:Pepsi

In UK : Male, muscular, young, sexy and energetic. Wild, fun and sporty. Associated with beach settings. Not very healthy - sugar and caffeine. Challenges to Coca-Cola and the status quo.

In Taiwan : Male, muscular, young, energetic, sporty and attractive. Fun, sexy, loud, wild and a little crazy. Accociated with beach, the sun and the Spice Girls. Good tasting and refreshes. Intensely compentitive with regards to Coca-Cola.    

Brand: Marlboro

In UK : Original brand is masculine, American and red. Cool, sexy, wild, adventurous and strong. Rough but with a lot of style. Associated with cowboys, the desert and music. Unhealthy and anti-social - cancer, smoke and smells. Marlboro Lights are less damaging and more popular. Associated with pubs, music, youth and the the colour gold.

In Taiwan : Masculine, American and red. Cool, strong, young, adventurous and exciting. Powerful and stylish. Associated with cowboys, the desert and music.

Brand: Kodak

IN UK : Masculine, nature, inteligent, creative and well respected. Warm, friendly and colourful. High quality, and colourful, high technology, and very professionl. Associated with happy times, sunshine, happiness, fun, colourfulness and the colour yellow. Safe, reliable, trustworthy, affordable and popular.

In Taiwan : Masculine, intelligent, innovative and cretive. High quality, expensive and professional. Modern, colourful and hugely popular. Associated with technology.

How and where to get the sources of capital to set up the business

No Capital = No Business

Source:  Personal Financing

Every business ventures need capital. While capital is needed throughout the life of a business, the new entrepreneur faces significant difficulties in acquiring capital at start-up. Before seeking outside financing, an entrepreneur should first explore all methods of internal financing, such as using profits, selling unused assets, reducing working capital, obtaining credit from suppliers, and collecting accounts receivables promptly. After all internal sources have been exhausted; the entrepreneur may find it necessary to seek additional funds through external financing. External financing can be in the form of debt or equity. When considering external financing, the entrepreneur needs to consider the length of time, cost, and amount of control of each alternative financial arrangement.

 

Source: Commercial Bank

Commercial bank loans are the most frequently used source of short-term external debt financing. This source of funding requires collateral, which may be asset-based or may take the formed cash flow financing. In either case, banks tend to be vigilant about lending and cautiously weigh the five Cs: character; capacity; capital; collateral; and condition. Not every entrepreneur will qualify under the bank’s careful scrutiny. When this occurs, an alternative for an entrepreneur is the Small Business Administration Guaranty Loan. The SBA guarantees 80 percent of the loan, allowing banks to lend money to businesses that might otherwise be refused.

 

Source:  Limited Partnership

A special method for raising capital or high-technology firms is a research and development (R & D) limited partnership. A contract is formed between a sponsoring company and a limited partnership. The partnership bears the risk for the research, receiving some tax advantages and sharing in the future profits, including a fee to use the research in developing any future products. The entrepreneur has the advantage of acquiring needed funds for a minimum amount of equity dilution while reducing his or her own risk in the venture. However, setting up and R & D limited partnership is expansive, and the time factor (at least 6 months) may be to long for some ventures. Restrictions placed on the technology as well as the complexities of exiting the partnership need careful evaluation.

 

Source: Government Grant

Government grants are another alternative accessible to small businesses through the SBIR program. Businesses can apply for grants from 11 agencies. Phase 1 awards carry a stipend of up to $50,000 for six months of initial research. The most promising Phase 1 project may be eligible for Phase 11 support of up to $500,000 for 24 months of research.

Source: Individual Investors

Lastly, the entrepreneur can look for private funding; Individual investors often require an equity position in the company and some degree of control. Look for individual investors that have the same interest in the business. Otherwise it won’t work. Look for individual investors that would help grow the business so you do not have to cover all expanses.

Try to cultivate a variety of funding sources, which can help you fully execute your business plan and prevent (or at least limit) resource constraints. Don’t stop raising money. The window for financing can be very narrow. You must be able to capitalize on funding when it is available. To obtain capital, one must have a dominant position in the field or some defined market niche, a good product or services, a well-written business plan with defined mission, and a management team with a track record, because it is the what and who that investors are looking. Remember due diligence goes both ways.

 

Wan Rosnah

Community of Women Entrepreneurs

Dear All Women Entrepreneurs  of the world,

Just to share with all of you. This letter of invitation was posted to my other group network. The letter is self explanatory. Take a look........

I just  joined and how about you guys?

Regards,

Wan Rosnah

from Kim Bettcher  reply-to women-entrepreneurs-in-smes+owner@googlegroups.com to Kim Bettcher date Wed, Nov 19, 2008 at 1:59 AM subject Community of practice for women's entrepreneurship mailing list  Filter messages from this mailing list mailed-by googlegroups.com signed-by googlegroups.com

 

 

Dear women’s advocates,

 

The Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) has launched a community of practice for women’s entrepreneurship and a website to support the community:www.reformsnetwork.org/women.   I am seeking recommendations of leading women’s advocates who might contribute to the community and benefit from an international exchange on women’s economic empowerment. Kindly tell me if you know any such individuals (or if you yourself are interested), who  are comfortable communicating in English.

 

The Community of Women Entrepreneurs (CWE) shares ideas, experiences, best practices, and resources to empower women economically and politically. Members of CWE are leading entrepreneurs and business advocates who share their knowledge and in return receive fresh ideas from their peers. Discussions in the community focus on supporting a culture of entrepreneurship, expanding opportunities for women in business, and advocating for a better business environment.

 

Thank you for your support.

 

Best regards,

________________________________________________

Kim Bettcher
Knowledge Management Officer

Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE)
1155 15th Street, NW • Suite 700
Washington, DC 20005

 

T: 202.721.9200 • F: 202.721.9250

KBettcher@cipe.org • www.cipe.org 

 

Be my guest, enjoy the slides & the video!

Hello and welcome to sign in my guest book.Have fun with the slides and enjoy the video- Christian the Lion!

 

 

Comparison of Entrepreneurs, Intrapreneurs and Traditional Managers

I am    authentic .... …..and highly motivated ….... I can accept small risks and I want to lead and I can’t accept too many instructions from others! My eyes will be scorching and sending smokes signals right away…. I can work in any environment and adaptable to any situation. I am  not easily intimidated….....I  can work for more than 10 hours a day. I am tough and so resilient….... I can  accept failures  and I will bounce back and never give up too easily! I try to be innovative and creative in order to sustain my business and differentiate from others. I am an entrepreneur!

The above  mentioned are  the  common  characteristics  that you should posses in order to remain successful in your entrepreneurial activities. 

Wan Rosnah

Which one of these categories best describe you? Check below!

	Traditional Managers	Entrepreneurs	Intrapreneurs
Primary	Promotion and other	Independence,	Independence and ability to
motives	traditional, corporate	opportunity	advance in the corporate rewards
	rewards, such as office,	to create, and money
	staff, and power
Time	Short term- meeting	Survival and achieving	Between entrepreneurial and
orientation	quotas,	5-to 10 year growth of	traditional managers, depending
	and budgets, weekly,	growth
	monthly, quarterly, and	business	on urgency to meet self-imposed
	the annual planning
	horizon		and corporate timetable
Activity	Delegates and	Direct involvement	Direct involvement more
	supervises
	more than direct		than  delegation
	involvement
Risk	Careful	Moderate risk taker	Moderate risk taker
Status	Concerned about	Not concerned about	Not concerned about traditional
	status symbols	status symbols	status symbols - desires
			independence
Failure and	Tries to avoid mistakes	Deals with mistakes	Attempts to hide risky projects
mistakes	and surprises	and failures	from view until ready
Decisions	Usually agrees with	Follows dream with	Able to get others to agree to
	those in	decision	help achieve dream
	in upper management
Who serves	Others	Self and customers	Self, customers, and sponsors
Family history	Family members	Entrepreneurial	Entrepreneurial small - business,
	worked for large	small business,	professional, or farm background
		professional,
	organizations	or farm background
Relationship	Hierarchy as basic	Transactions and	Transactions within hierarchy
with others	relationship	deal making as
		basic relationship
Source:Pinchot, Intrapreneuring (New York: Harper & Row, 1985). pp. 54 - 56.