Culture and Cross Culture Risks

 Culture and Cross Culture Risks

                         Culture entails beliefs, values, customs, arts and other products of human work and thoughts that characterize the people of a given society (Cavusgil et al., 2014). As groups of people or societies, human beings share many similarities but at the same time, exhibit huge differences. The common rituals of daily life are influenced by culture. The greetings ceremonies are deeply embedded cultural marker and in many centuries have undergone a lot of evolution. Such ceremonies specify such behaviours as what to say, whether to shake hands, and how far apart to stand. The cultural conventions may vary as a function of gender, age or greeters status. Culture captures the way members of the society live, for example, the way we shelter ourselves, how we clothe, and how we feed. It also explains how we behave with other groups toward each other. In a broader perspective, culture defines our values and attitudes and the way we perceive the meaning of life. Among the most interesting aspects of national culture is food. Fast food restaurants around the world, for example, often varies offerings to suit tastes in individual countries.Any attempt to offer standardized menu worldwide will make the fast-food restaurant because it has failed to appreciate the culture of a specific country. Some cultures are collectivist and impose many norms and rules on social behaviour, while others are individualistic and less imposing on norms and rules (Cavusgil et al., 2014).

The concept of culture in cross border business is of more concern. This is because culture introduces new risks in international business. These risks are called cross-cultural risks, which refers to a situation, or an event in which a cultural misunderstanding puts some human value at stake (Cavusgil et al., 2014). The differing values and expectation among the people lead to rising in misunderstanding and miscommunication. Either they do not always communicate non-verbally or verbally what other party is expecting or may have very different ways of communicating. For example, a head nod has a different meaning in the United Kingdom and India. The cross-cultural misunderstanding has adverse effects on international business. It can ruin business deals, harm the corporate image or hurt the sales. These cross-cultural risks if not put into serious consideration, will not mean well for the business. Therefore a business needs to have a serious undertaking with regard to culture in every aspect of business decision making. It is imperative to develop an appreciation of sensitivity for the cultural differences across the world. Managers who are informed very well on matters about cross-cultural differences have the upper hand in marketing products, managing employees, issues to do with interaction with customers and business partners. In today’s world, global firms conduct business in an environment that is characterized by unique beliefs, norms, behaviours and unfamiliar languages. Therefore, managers need to have the capacity to reconcile these huge cultural differences to create profitable ventures. It was noted that understanding the cultural differences is not enough for managers, but they have a duty to develop international cultural competence. This will give them an edge in an already competitive global environment.

Culture’s Effect in International Business

It is apparent that culture differs sharply between neighbouring countries. Establishing international business needs effective handling of the cross-cultural as an essential source of competitive advantage. Global business managers need to develop tolerance and empathy towards cultural diversity and need to acquire enough knowledge about the values and beliefs of foreign counterparts (Cavusgil et al., 2014). In essence, cross-cultural proficiency is vital in managerial duties. Managing employees needs factual knowledge of values and beliefs to understand them very well before assigning them tasks. Managers need not take all people to have a similar culture but instead need to take time to understand and appreciate their cultural diversity to manage them very well. Cultural understanding helps managers to communicate and interact with foreign business partners. For example, the managers appreciate the language used by foreign partners and the way of doing things. Cultural insight also helps the managers in negotiating and structuring international ventures. This is in terms of structuring the roles; the time to perform tasks depending on the way of life of foreign partners.it also helps to develop products, services depending on the beliefs and values of foreign counterparts. Tastes and preferences on the products are diverse, and therefore understanding of culture is paramount. Another aspect is preparing advertising and promotional materials. Cultural understanding is key to develop promotional materials in terms of developing content based on the values and beliefs of the foreign partners (Cavusgil et al., 2014). In addition, the screening and selecting foreign distributors and other partners are informed by the understanding and appreciation of cultural diversity. Another important aspect is the interaction with current, and potential customers from abroad rely on cultural insights and tolerance of the existing differences towards making a business decision.

Cross-cultural differences may complicate the activities of the business. For example, developing products and services internationally cultural differences necessitate adapting marketing activities to suit the specific needs of the market. For example, Johnson and Johnson Company operating in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia developed specific varieties of mouthwash, Listerine for the foreign markets. In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a Muslim country; mostly, the company created alcohol-free Listerine Zero (Cavusgil et al., 2014). This is because the company understand and appreciates the culture of most of the Muslim countries. In Muslim Countries like the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia spirits are forbidden.Johnson and Johnson Company, before developing products had to get the insights of the cultural background of the country it wanted to venture into before producing a product. In any case, the company had ignored the culture of the Muslims and proceeded to produce a product without putting into consideration the beliefs and values of these people would have terribly failed .cross cultural matters are so important as it will define the success of the international business. The business will only thrive and receive a good gesture if it accommodates the values and norms of the foreign country. Johnson and Johnson Company had to adhere to Islamic law and practices if even the managers were not Muslims. The company had to put into consideration the prayer times, as it was the most noticeable. When it reaches prayer times, the business activities in the company are stopped as the employees attend those prayers. The company also takes notes of the Ramadhan where fasting is mandatory in public. Operations in the company had to be stopped during this event as most of the workforce is involved in fasting and other social rules, which ranges from dietary and dress codes to comply with gender segregation in another environment. The company understand these social rules, which are the main fabric of the society and tolerate them for the wellbeing of the business. Though these cultural values and beliefs can be uncomfortable to the company especially in the smooth running of its activities, there is no option but for the company to adjust to it since it defines the way of life of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Additionally, about women, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia still believes the two sexes are completely different entities. However, this belief has been diluted by the western countries promotion of equality between men and women in the recent past. Saudi women do not usually participate in the mainstream business world (Kelly, 2017). Therefore the Johnson and Johnson company had to understand this factual knowledge before undertaking its activities of the recruiting the workforce. The public life is the exclusive domain of Saudi women. The company had to stick to the social rules of Saudi society or risk not getting the opportunity to operate due to a lack of cultural diversity understanding. Another point about women is those female business travellers where limitations on permissible behaviour are highly regulated. Even if the women are granted a visa, the opportunity to conduct a business is quite challenging for women. They must dress conservatively (Kelly, 2017). This point to the fact that there is no space for growth for women in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in business life. Johnson and Johnson had to understand the aspects of the dressing code accepted in the KSA to tolerant it for the wellbeing of the business at large. The cultural environment of international business is paramount.

                                                                References

Cavusgil, S. T., Knight, G., Riesenberger, J. R., Rammal, H. G., & Rose, E. L. (2014).

International business. Pearson Australia.

Kelly, D. (2017). Don’t make mistake-cultural business travel tips for Saudi Arabia. Retrieved 6 February 2020, from https://www.tripsavvy.com/doing-business-saudi-arabia-4022381