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79
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International Journal of Applied Research
a) Culture
Culture is the most fundamental determinant of a person’s
want and behaviour. The growing child acquires a set of
values, perception preferences and behaviours through his or
her family and other key institutions. Culture influences
considerably the pattern of consumption and the pattern of
decision-making. Marketers have to explore the cultural
forces and have to frame marketing strategies for each
category of culture separately to push up the sales of their
products or services. But culture is not permanent and
changes gradually and such changes are progressively
assimilated within society.
Culture is a set of beliefs and values that are shared by most
people within a group. The groupings considered under
culture are usually relatively large, but at least in theory a
culture can be shared by a few people. Culture is passed on
from one group member to another, and in particular is
usually passed down from one generation to the next; it is
learned, and is therefore both subjective and arbitrary.
For example, food is strongly linked to culture. While fish is
regarded as a delicacy in Bengal, and the Bengalis boast of
several hundred different varieties, in Gujarat. Rajastan or
Tamil Naru, fish is regarded as mostly unacceptable food
item. These differences in tastes are explained by the culture
rather than by some random differences in taste between
individuals; the behaviours are shared by people from a
particular cultural background.
Culture can change over a period of time, although such
changes tend to be slow, since culture is deeply built into
people’s behaviour. From a marketing viewpoint, therefore,
it is probably much easier to work within a given culture
than to try to change it.
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