Fundamentals of Business

Social and Demographic

7.1.7 Social and Demographic - Cultural context

Culture all the ways of life including arts, beliefs and institutions of a population that are passed down from generation to generation. Culture is the way of life for an entire society. It includes codes of manners, dress, language, religion, rituals, norms of behaviour such as law and morality, and systems of belief as well as the art. Large societies often have subcultures, or groups of people with distinct sets of behaviour and beliefs that differentiate them from a larger culture of which they are a part. The subculture may be distinctive because of the age of its members, or by their race, ethnicity, class, or gender. The qualities that determine a subculture as distinct may be aesthetic, religious, occupational, political, sexual, or a combination of these factors. It is important for an enterprise to appreciate cultural differences in an area it operates, different cultures have a different way of interpretation of things. For example, in Western culture a woman can wear a mini skirt in public while in Arab culture she will end up with a few lashes on her backside.

7.1.8 Demographic envi environment ronment

Changing demand environment. Demographic factors (Statistical socio-economic characteristics or variables of a population, such as age, sex, education level, income level, marital status, occupation, religion, birth rate, death rate, average size of a family, average age at marriage) a census is a collection of the demographic factors associated with every member of a population) of the market in which a firm operates, and which are used to segment the target population for effective marketing.

7.1.9 Demography

Demography is the statistical study of human populations dynamics. It can be a general science that can be applied to any kind of dynamic population, that is, one that changes over time or space. It encompasses the study of the size, structure and distribution of populations, and spatial and/or temporal changes in them in response to birth, death, migration and ageing.

7.1.10 Mig Migration ration movement of people, especially of whole groups, from one place, region, or country to another, particularly with the intention of making permanent settlement in a new location. Migration can have both positive and negative impact on economy
Example of positive impact
Extract from bbc·co·uk uk, 11 March 2008
The £7 per per-hour jobs locals don't want
By Tim Samuels
High wages have drawn scores of Eastern Europeans to at least one corner of England. But not everyone welcomes this new workforce even if unemployed locals themselves refuse to do the same jobs. A slice of today's British countryside. Giant butternut squash nestle in the ground waiting to be plucked and dispatched to satisfy gastropub tastes. Half a dozen workers trudge behind a tractor bending down to pick and load the squash. And the only person in the field who's British is the bloke driving the tractor. The rest are all from Eastern Europe.
The agricultural sector would be in dire straits without the immigrants willing to do the hard graft on the land.

Example of negative impact
Extract from bbc·co·uk
Migration tipping point reached
Immigration could lead to the political break up of Britain, according to right wing think tank Civitas. The Civitas pamphlet - A Nation of Immigrants? - said the "seemingly reckless pace and scale" of immigration was bound to cause concern for people who saw the UK as a model of tolerance and freedom. Shadow home secretary David Davis has called on the government to put a cap on those coming to the UK. Shadow home secretary David Davis said:
"We know that unchecked immigration is putting pressure on housing and local services. Given the limited number of schools schools, hospital hospitals and houses houses, the government must apply a limit on the amount of people entering the country", he concluded.