Intercultural Communication :: Sociology, Cultural Identity

With the development of economic globalization, intercultural communication has played a big part in international business activities. In order to carry out efficient intercultural communication, people should understand and focus on cultural identity more. Jameson (2007) stated that cultural identity which refers to a person’s status in a group includes six components: vocation, class, geography, philosophy, language, and biology (p.210). This essay will discuss that cultural identity of customers is an important consideration for Haier Group when it develops new product and market, especially when it comes to the class, geography vocation. Cultural identity linked to class has a great effect on a company’s marketing. The social and economic class which people belong to have big effect on their daily consumption decision (He & Liu, 2003, p.249). Leung (2005) claimed that social and economic status of people is the reliable indicators of which class people fall into, providing the valuable practical information for the enterprises (p.362). Generally speaking, the people who are in the high social and economic class usually are more willing to consume. In other words, it can mean the economic class of the consumer will directly affect the consumer demand and spending habit of consumer (Leung, 2005, p.370). Jameson (2007) found that â€Å"economic, social and educational classes often define groups of people who share common values, behavior, and attitudes; these cultural groups also cut across national and ethnic lines† (p.212). Therefore, the people belong to the same economic or social class may have the s imilar consumption tendency. The specific economic class usually requires a particular service or product. In general, Single white-collar crowds belong to the high –income class. They are the class who has considerable income, and they have the requirements of high quality of product. However, they don’t have too many clothes to wash. For example, when Haier Group enters into Japanese washing machine market, it found that most of the washing machines on the market are the big capacity. They are not suitable for the single white-collar class. Therefore, Haier Group designed and introduced a small capacity and high quality washing machine for them. The products are widely appreciated, and Haier Group firstly opened the door of Japan market. Owing to the profound impacts geographical environments exercise on human life, people living in different regions have different demands for the products. Jameson (2007) argued that â€Å"Geography creates cultural groups but not only in terms of nationality.