CULTURAL DIMENSIONS AND MARKETING MIX OF RESIDENTIAL PROPERTIES

Abstract

Marketing Mix is commonly employed to devise appropriate packages of 'goods-andservices' in the marketing of residential properties. The inclusion of cultural factors should provide an additional dimension to Marketing Mix. For instance, the questions of "What are the products that are highly desired9", "What are the prices deemed to be worth investing9", "What are the promotions that can capture the hearts of the buyers?", and "What are the places considered to be well located9" could also be answered by the cultural perspective. Product, Price, Promotion and Place illustrated above are the four elements of Marketing Mix commonly known as the "4Ps". The cultural perspective discussed is based on the four cultural dimensions of Hofstede (1980), namely Power Distance, Uncertainty Avoidance, Individualism, and Masculinity. Based on the responses from 115 individuals of a survey designed for this study, our empirical results indicate that the local culture has a very high level of Uncertainty Avoidance. This suggests that the local culture is not receptive of uncertainties and unstructured ways of doing things. Hence, the "4Ps" designed in a marketing mix should avoid too many diversions and ambiguities. On the other hand, the study shows that the local culture is moderate on the dimension of Power Distance, suggesting a moderate acceptance of the structure of power and wealth divisions in the society. Hence, the "4Ps" should be tailored accordingly to reflect this Power Distance cultural dimension. In addition to the above, the empirical study has also found that the local culture has balanced attitudes in the other two dimensions of Individualism and Masculinity. Along the Individualism dimension, our results indicate that the local culture is neither individualistic nor collective Likewise, the Masculinity dimension shows no extreme views towards gender roles in our society. Hence, the "4Ps" must also adopt a balanced approach to these two dimensions. When comparing different demographic groups, it is found that there is no significant difference in all cultural dimensions between ethnicity and income. Hence, the design of Marketing Mix need not give weightage to these two aspects. However, it is found that there is a significant difference in the Masculinity dimension between ages. The oldest group of respondents aged 50 years and above shows a much higher level of Masculinity than the youngest group aged 21 to 29 years. This means that the Marketing Mix should assign greater weightage to the Masculinity dimension if the target market is of the older age group.