Senior Researcher David Bourdin held a two-day lecture on multicultural consumer behaviour as part of the International Week at Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Senior Researcher David Bourdin represented the Department of Communication at the International Week (April 22 to 26, 2024) of the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration at Babeș-Bolyai University and held a two-day lecture entitled “Multicultural Consumer Behaviour” for 30 students. Founded in 1581, the university has a total of around 49,000 students and is a long-standing partner institution of FHWien der WKW. Guest lecturers from various countries such as Germany, Italy, Greece and Poland took part in this year’s International Week.
Culture and stereotypes in the international marketing context
In his interactive lecture, David Bourdin gave the students an overview of:
- international market entry strategies,
- culturally charged brand positioning approaches,
- the influence of individual consumer attitudes (e.g. cultural identity, ethnocentrism, cosmopolitanism, xenocentrism, country stereotypes, country affinity and animosity) on product perceptions,
- country differences in digital usage behaviour and
- global marketing ethics issues.
He used storytelling from his own work experience in international brand management at Henkel and 3M in his didactic communication, but also referred to the empirical findings of his academic publications on cultural stereotypes, international brand positioning and marketing ethics.
Varied program at the International Week
In addition to teaching and exchanging ideas with local and international researchers, the program also included a guided tour of Cluj-Napoca, a visit to the opera, an interactive lecture on Romanian culture (traditional clothing, music, dances and customs), an international food tasting event with dishes prepared by the incoming students (including Bolivia, Venezuela, Cameroon, Indonesia and China), a visit to the FlightX company, a visit to a winery and an excursion to the Turda salt mine.
The particiapation in this International Week was funded by the EU mobility program Erasmus+.