ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a survey of cultural considerations in cross-border marketing operations, with particular emphasis on four issues. These include the nature of cross-border operations; business risks in foreign markets; the determination of cultural risk associated with undertaking business operations in a country or region; and the use of cultural risk scores to enhance the success and survival of a business in cross-border operations. Cultural risk scores can aid a marketing manager in figuring out whether or not much effort needs to be expended on adapting his/her organisation's policies, operations, and marketing mix to the idiosyncrasies of the cultural environment of a particular foreign target market. The chapter identifies and discusses the potential business risks associated with undertaking business operations in foreign markets. For analytical purposes, the risks are classified in three major categories as follows: political risk, economic risk and cultural risk.
