Culture is one of the most challenging elements that managers face in the international marketplace.
To be successful in their international ventures, businesspeople must be knowledgeable about other cultures and sometimes must have cultural literacy-detailed knowledge about a culture that enables people to live and work within it. Obtaining cultural literacy requires both factual and experiential knowledge. The main components of culture are aesthetics, values and attitudes, manners and customs, social structure, religion, personal communication, education, and physical and material environments. A culture's aesthetics is important to formulating all types of company strategies-especially marketing strategies. Values influence a people's attitudes toward many things, including time, work, and achievement, and cultural change.