Global Business - Essay Example

? Global Business: China will be the focus of the essay Global Business: China will be the focus of the essay Major Cross-Cultural Issues That May Impact Company A’s Marketing Approach Culture can be categorized as a continuum between two extremes: Modern based and tradition based cultures. This grouping may further be described as cultural and economic bound. Modern cultures are driven by the market, as well as competitive post industrialized systems of an economy. The United States is an example of a modern-based culture. In contrast, countries like China are tradition- based, which is featured with the agrarian centralized, agrarian, cooperative, and pre-industrialized systems. The tradition based culture places emphasis on traditions, history and established conventions. The market systems in the tradition based cultures are dissimilar compared to the modern based cultures; hence, both social and economic factors influence the adaptation and development of marketing institutions. The willingness of the Chinese culture to relinquish its traditional ways and adopt new ones is unlikely. Culture influences the behavior of a customer. Company A must therefore, carry out a cultural orientation to establish and maintain, through vendor loyalty, adequate small retailers reinforced by an efficient, multi-tied distribution networks (Hall, 2000). Major Cross Cultural Issues There are a number of cross cultural issues which may affect or impact the manner in which Company A will conduct its marketing. The first one is the difference in leadership. A company from the west may find the rules and regulations of operations from China as being stringent. A company from the West is somewhat liberal and would find it find the conservative nature of the Chinese people as being somewhat limiting. The other aspect is the perception. The perception of people from the west and those from China is different. This stems from the fact that their cultures are different. With full appreciation of the facts, company A would require to get a somewhat different approach that would ensure that they capture as many clients as possible. The Impact of Cross-Cultural Ethical Differences in the Strategies of Marketing between the United States and China To promote and market in the Eastern Asian market, it is essential for the US to understand China’s culture. This means the US must have knowledge of the way the Chinese handle business, as well as how they market their merchandise. For example, the mode that Company A will use to publicize specialized machine locomotive modules may develop a direct effect on sales in China. Hence, it is important to note that advertising suitable in America could be offensive in China. The manner in which men and women interact is crucial in China. In addition, the Chinese are sensitive to advertisements that expose women negatively. Company A must consider such conditions when using women to advertise their products (Peterson, 2011). The Americans in China must consider what is essential to the Chinese when marketing in the country in order to advertise to them appropriately. Errors have been experienced where the Chinese did not heed to lubricant fighting soaps, while in reality, this was crucial to the Chinese. When Company A advertisements specialized machinery engine modules to the Chinese, it should contemplate what is essential to the Chinese in respect for it to market successfully. In addition, the Chinese run their businesses differently from the Americans, and people consider them harsh and rough in regard to their working strategies. Understanding the Chinese trade practices will enable Company A to have a cautious approach to negotiation, as the Chinese do not haste into assessments. They prefer reflecting over matters before making decisions. Lack of this information may cause Company A to encounter losses. This may happen when dealing with harsh suppositions such as extensive value increment, especially when there is little acknowledgement during consultations. These cultural variances may have crucial effects on Company A’s capacity to promote and market efficiently in the Chinese culture (Craig, 2009). It is important that company A understands and fully appreciates the difference that exists mainly because of culture. If company A does not fully understand and integrate the necessary changes, there are high chances that its products will not penetrate in the market. China is a totally new market and new strategies must be adopted as this will be the only way to ensure that the culture of the Chinese people has been considered. If company A fails to make these considerations, then the people of China could consider the products foreign and hence abstain from consuming them. How cross-cultural communication affects marketing strategies in China Business operations are not identical between cultures. Accordingly, relations are improved when executive, technical, and sales personnel are trained to have knowledge of areas likely to create communication conflicts. The difficulties of communicating at a worldwide level are progressively wide. Lack of understanding arising from ethnocentrism can result to unsuccessful marketing strategies. Linguistics problems could also affect marketing strategies due to gross interpretation problems, non-stated differences from a language to another and culturally based disparities amid speakers of the same language. China’s environment and technology can also affect marketing strategies. Culturally in-built biases concerning the technological and natural environment can hinder marketing and create communication obstacles. History and social organization of China may inhibit marketing strategies. Social organization is culturally determined; hence, its implications should be carefully evaluated. For instance in the United States, resumes are used to hire workers while in China a different criteria may apply (Peterson, 2011). As an economy, China has continuously embraced Foreign Investments through Joint Undertakings. Since China has always wanted all policies and trades to be under the control of the government administration. The country has continuously backed foreign direct investment via the joint venture method. To accomplish this, the approaches have to be native in nature, as well as created by local individuals. The Chinese Government controls and standardizes these local corporations. Hence, the state Government of China does not intend to lose this control. Cross-cultural communication, therefore, momentously affects marketing strategies. This means that the communication strategies of Company A will have to base formulations in Chinese rather than English (Peterson, 2011). The company could encounter currency issues while vending its merchandise in China. In reality, most Western corporations have pursued to penetrate China through the cooperative-venture way, partaking routine handling of the corporate with a native partner. Permitting a native associate in a shared venture does present certain benefits such as acquiring connections that regularly hinge on political relations, in addition, having the ability to utilize guanxi-type dealings. Nevertheless, sharing operational management with the native associate can inhibit decision-making. Lucent, for instance, saw its segment of the arcade for fiber optic apparatus in China drop from 80to 40 percent principally, since according to an analyst’s assessment, Lucent had to bargain each technical alteration in its merchandise base with the native associate. Such delays involving time in swiftly changing high-technology markets can be adverse. References Hall, E. (2000). Understanding Cultural Differences. New York: Intercultural Press. Peterson, B. (2011). Cultural Intelligence: A Guide to Working with People from Other Cultures. New York: Cambridge University Press. Craig, P. (2009). Multicultural Manners: Essential Rules of Etiquette for the 21st Century. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Read More