Highly Collectivist Social Structure of South Asian Nation - Research Paper Example

In the course of this research, the emphasis will be mainly on the cultural context of Cyworld’s global expansion strategy wherein attempts will be made to analyze the cultural cornerstones of South Korea and to correlate them with the business philosophy of Cyworld. Followed by this, the strategies of the company relevant to its American operations will be discussed in the light of cross-cultural differentials. This section will throw light on the strategic maneuvers that Asian companies should keep in mind while venturing into the American market.

The future prospects of Cyworld will be discussed in the later part of this report wherein a set of strategies will be recommended to this South Korean SNS. Finally, the report will be concluded by giving an overview of the findings. In today’s competitive economic environment ‘going global’ is one of the most widely used strategies by the organizations. A large number of organizations has adopted the strategy of international expansion in order to stay ahead of their competitors.

Experts have defined an international expansion as the process through which an organization makes entry and investment in a targeted foreign country with the purpose of achieving its long-term objectives. Any organization needs to make a proper analysis of the target market, target customers and potential competitors before entering into a new country. Cyworld is present in the South East Asian nations of Japan, China, Taiwan, and Korea. It also had a strong presence in the USA until 23rd November 2009, when it had decided to close its operations in the said location.

The company has plans to expand into India, Europe, and South America in the near future. After consolidating a 40% share in the South Korean social networking sites (SNS) market shortly following its inception in 1999, Cyworld, in 2005, formulated a global strategy for positioning its brand on a regional basis. Consequently, the company introduced its services in China. Followed by this, it made gradual forays into Taiwan and Japan. The American version of Cyworld was officially launched in August 2006.