The Impact of the Cultural Environment on Interfirm Communications

A theoretical framework to study the impact of the cultural environment on the nature of interfirm communication strategies in channesls of distribution is presented. Based on several structural and behavioral criteria, national cultural environments are classified as traditional or modern. It is proposed that the governance structure of a channel (conventional market or hierarchy) interacts with the cultural influences to affect channels communications patterns. Tenets from the Politcal Economy and Relational Exchange paradigms are combined to conceptualize an interorganizational marketing environment in two dimensions: culture (traditional or modern) and channel governance structure (markets or hierarchies). The ways in which the direction, frequency, modality, and content of interfirm communications differ in diverse cultures is discussed. Managerial guidelines are developed regarding communication strategies in different environments.