Marketing Russian Culture Compared to the Culture

Marketing

Russian culture compared to the culture found in Brazil is as different as night and day, yet the business environment in both countries offers unique opportunities for expansion and marketing for aggressive companies. Accordingly, there are risks and disadvantages to establishing a new business in both countries, but there are also advantages and benefits. Some of the advantages in each market include the fact that Russia is likely to present potential investors with a society comprised of an older, more established citizenry that is comfortable with working long, hard hours at laborious jobs. Brazil, on the other hand, is likely to provide a more vibrant, younger society filled with workers (both male and female) who wish to rapidly move upward. Interestingly enough though, recent and "numerous survey of young people…attest to a very strong disposition…to obtain a higher education, to find self-realization, to build a career and achieve financial independence without regard to their personal and family life" (Stuchevskaia, 2011, pp. 35/36) in both Russia and Brazil.

The workers are not the only difference between the societies. Indeed, those workers are also the very same consumers that the company seeks to market the product to (which leads to some intriguing questions as to which country would be best suited to the different marketing approaches available). Marketing will be addressed further in this paper, there are still other areas of business culture that need to be discussed. One such area is the fact that each country presents potential investors with a widely different economical picture. One analyst, Carlos Gomes with Scotia Capital, thinks that the economies should present opportunities in the future but that "Russia likely has the weakest outlook among the BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China) because of declining population" (Watson, 2009, p. 37).

If one is going to establish an ongoing business concern in a foreign country, one would likely wish to establish the business in a country that presents a long-term vibrancy that bodes well for initial, current and future sales and expansion, not a country that is likely to continue to see a declining population base and lower sales and expansion possibilities. Some of the other issues business' may want to consider for new markets include the language barriers presented by each separate country. As one expert recently explained "poor language knowledge, the use of slang or idioms, unexplained acronyms and initials, as well as ways of doing it right by uttering simple and short sentences in the active voice, building empathy and smiling when speaking to others" (Watson, 2009, p. 37) all make perfect sense when attempting to establish new products or new markets in otherwise unexplored territories. According to Watson, "cultural differences should be minded" (p. 37) otherwise a perfectly good business venture might be grounded before it has even had a chance to lift off.

Other risks that need to be considered include political and currency risks. Currently Russia and Brazil both seek to implement rules and regulations that assist domestic companies while ensuring that foreign companies experience a more difficult business environment. One recent report shows that "Brazil has traditionally been characterized by a culture of inward-looking policy making" (Baumann, 2010, p. 35) while the business culture in Russia still extols the virtues of buying home grown products. Baumman states that "a peculiar feature in the present decade is the process of internationalization of Brazilian firms" (p. 36) and that "a century-old history of immigration has led the country to concentrate most of its intellectual effort and policy initiatives in the domestic market" (p. 36).

A report on Russian imports states that "one thing that was underlined during the visit was the level of preparation required to ensure that an organization embarks on investment in Russia with its eyes wide open" (Ranson, 2011, p. 6). Taking these items into consideration, one would likely tread lightly when thinking of either Brazil or Russia for foreign expansion markets.