Will Globalization Lead to a Global Culture - Essay Example

According to Hofstede culture is the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another (Hope & Mühlemann, 2001). Societies have developed a common set of beliefs and developed a set pattern of behavior that not only allows them to live harmoniously but also is handed down from one generation to another.  Organizations have become global in their outlook and barriers have become insignificant as information technology has been able to reduce the distance.

The culture in which an individual is immersed since birth has a much stronger influence than the organizational culture on an individual. Hope and Mühlemann (2001) found that national culture has a stronger effect than industry culture. In the hospitality sector, while it is possible to globalize the backroom operations as this has no direct communication with the end customers, the front office operations depend heavily upon the cultural adaptation of the service. Significant differences were found in the manner in which hotel managers in Korea, Japan, and Hong Kong dealt with customers.

Hence an international chain has to recruit local managers for its global operations. The Ritz Carlton Hotel in the USA received the Malcolm Baldridge award for quality in 1992 but encountered problems in Hong Kong. The culture was identified as the main cause as the ‘best practice’ approach of the USA was not feasible in this setting. The Hong King culture did not permit them to work too closely with each other or to share information as ‘knowledge is power (Hope & Mühlemann).

The skincare giant NIVEA attempted to do transnational segmentation for its marketing strategy but they found significant differences in demographic characteristics, brand assessments, and behavioral characteristics (Bastian, 2006). Differences were also perceived in brand awareness, advertisement recall, and the usage of the product. The choices of the location of purchase also differed as the distribution channels used were different. Nestle has been unable to introduce coffee culture in China, so they adopted a diversification strategy (Hara & Nakanishi, 2004).

They bought Chinese brands offering products like water, seasonings, and milk. They have not yet succeeded in China but they perceive China as a lucrative market for the food business. McDonald's operates globally but in each country, even though their basic menu is the same, the items have to differ. While in Israel Big Macs are served without cheese in several outlets, in India they serve vegetable McNuggets and a mutton-based Maharaja Mac (Vignali, 2001). They cannot sell beef in India and Muslims do not eat pork.

In Germany, they sell beer while in Turkey chilled yogurt drinks are available. This is why they believe in, ‘think global, act locally. Kellogg’s products are available in several countries and the manufacturing techniques have been standardized giving the product their unique and uniform taste across the globe but the texture and appearance of the product differ across countries (Vignali, 2001a). Homogenous global culture does not work when companies have to market their products globally.

In India, cereals are not traditionally eaten at breakfast and to enter the Indian market, Kellogg had to first change the eating habits. In Brazil, cereals are eaten as a dry snack so the company had to alter its marketing initiatives and promoted cereals as an all-day food and as a healthy snack alternative.Even in the fashion and clothing sector, even though jeans are globally worn across all nations, the specifications differ. Levis found that Islamic countries do not like women wearing tight-fitting clothes and the entire Far East Asian market demands much shorter inside leg measurements (SD, 2005).

The Japanese, on the other hand, prefer tighter jeans. They found that Europeans are happy with standard white denim but a warmer climate requires lighter weight material in brighter colors. The commercial also has to vary across nations. Hence it can be seen that in every sector, be it food or clothing, fashion, or the hospitality sector, culture plays a dominant role. While companies may be marketing their products or services globally they have to take into account the local culture and habits in their marketing strategy.

Hence globalization does not lead to global culture.