Integrate Enculturalization Paradigm into Consumer Inquiry: Determinants for Brand Function in Local Context

This study integrates socio-ethnological considerations with the nuances of product and brand strategy research to derive a dynamic system of paradigms that explain determinants for successful products through brand function by enculturalization conformance. We use empirical evidence to support our proposed paradigms that a product value intended by a business in one culture does not necessarily translate into equivalent value in another until it becomes congruent with local contexts. The process is so coined as brand function that is largely dependent upon enculturalization, both locally and internationally, subject to certain limitations. We also propose a typology of product classifications from the broadened global business perspective through our mathematical reasoning and illustrations and a set of paired axioms of Brand-in-Value for Firms (BIV-Firm) and Brand-in-Value for Markets (BIV-Market) in a cross-cultural setting with an illustration using Hofstede’s power distance that can be used to derive effective and context-suitable marketing strategies in a global business environment.