People’s thinking on different issues like success, wealth, material gains and risks influences their approach to work and their impact in an organisation. Hofstede, an IBM Psychologist, developed the four dimensions of national culture that helped in understanding how values in various national cultures influence the behaviour of people at work. An additional one was developed later in 1991 by Michael Bond. These dimensions include:
Power Distance. It is the readiness of a society to appreciate the power differences among its members. Societies with low power distance anticipate and sometimes fight for equalisation in the distribution of power while societies with high power distance are characterised with inequality and steep hierarchies (Soares, Farhangmehr & Shoham, 2007). Each person has their place in such a society.
Uncertainty Avoidance. This dimension describes the ability of people in various societies to tolerate ambiguity and their advocacy for stipulated rules and guidelines. People living in societies with high uncertainty avoidance feel threatened with uncertain situations, and they handle such situations by implementing formal rules and policies
Masculinity vs Femininity. Hofstede defines masculinity as a ‘society in which social gender roles are well defined.’ Men are expected to be assertive, tough and focused on material gains while women are modest, tender and more concerned with the quality of life (Hofstede,2003). Femininity refers to a society where there is an overlap of social gender responsibilities, while masculinity is pegged on how society enforces the traditionally masculine roles (Hofstede & Usunier, 2003). Japan is considered masculine, while Thailand is feminine.
Individualism vs Collectivism. People in individualistic cultures seek to accomplish their goals and needs while people in collectivistic cultures seek to achieve the success of the larger group where an individual belongs.
Long vs. Short Term Orientation. This dimension seeks to understand the focus of society. Is it on the present, past or its future? A company should appreciate that it takes time to accomplish its goals, and the employee works to establish a long term relationship with the organisation. Employees who often change their employers depict a short-term orientation.
These dimensions influence the global business environment where innovators in nations with high uncertainty avoidance are restricted with many rules and policies governing their innovations and businesses. The business potential of women in highly masculine societies is not fully explored as they feel intimidated, and the reverse is true. Globalisation aims at managing the shortcomings associated with Hofstede’s cultural dimensions.
Cultures have a huge impact on the strategic choices made by Multi-National Enterprises (MNEs). These are companies operating in more than one country like Apple Inc., Coca-cola. Thus they are exposed to many different cultures. MNEs based in countries where the prevailing dimensions are high power distance and low uncertainty avoidance tend to advocate for full ownership of their foreign affiliates on issues of subsidiary ownership. This aspect is often defined as the ‘National Character’ theory of subsidiary ownership. At the same time, companies from countries with a higher level of uncertainty avoidance prefer a joint venture or a wholly-owned Greenfield to an acquisition. According to them, full acquisitions, present greater uncertainties to investors compared to joint ventures or Greenfields investments. MNEs based in countries with high power distance and high uncertainty avoidance prefer majority or wholly-owned subsidiaries. The mode of subsidiary ownership adopted by an MNE is largely based on the culture of the home country. The operations of Apple Inc. are largely based on the culture of the United States. The US has a low score of uncertainty avoidance, and power dimension and these dimensions have defined the management operations of Apple Inc. The company strives to meet the needs of their customers by making products that they want. They strive to minimise the parity between their employees and the company managers.
Global companies are continually venturing into larger international markets. However, their success is pegged on how best they understand the cultures of the foreign markets and the appropriate mode of communication. Advertising blunders can cost a company huge losses because the intended purpose was not achieved. Cultural blunders occurred when the relevant stakeholders conducted no proper research before releasing an advert (Ricks, 2009). Examples of cultural blunders include:
- Pepsi in China.
Pepsi developed the slogan, “Come alive with the Pepsi generation” which when literally translated to the Chinese language would mean, “Pepsi will bring your ancestors back from the dead. The company was not aware of this mistake, and once they did, they pulled it down before it would any significant returns to the company. It is a cultural blunder because the dead in China have to be accorded their respect and the relationship between the dead and the Pepsi drink was a scary idea.
- Coke in China
Coca Cola has made several mistakes in the eastern countries like China and Taiwan. For instance, in China, they translated the name Coca Cola to ‘Ke-Kou-Ke-La’ the Mandarin language. This move was hilarious because the translated name meant “bite the wax tadpole” or “a female horse stuffed with wax”. This slogan confused many people as it was challenging to relate it to a soft drink. The company realised their mistake and changed the translation to “ko-kou-ko-le” which meant “happiness in the mouth.” It was not the best slogan considering the previous blunder that had been committed, but it was way better than the wax tadpole.
- Coke in Cuba
The marketing department of Coca Cola in Cuba intended to write “Tome Coca Cola” (drink Coca Cola) in the sky. This plan was a brilliant one as it would catch the attention of possible consumers. However, they ended up writing “Teme Coca Cola”, which meant “fear Coca Cola”. This move was very devastating for the company which attempted to work on the mistake by producing a lithograph of bullfighting. This act was more devastating as bullfighting is prohibited in Cuba. The multi-national company had violated the cultures and traditions of the Cuban people.
- Mensa in Spain.
Mensa is a global society of people with a high intelligent quotient. These people were not appreciated in nations that spoke Spanish because according to them, the term Mensa meant a ‘stupid woman’. It largely contradicted and conflicted with what the organisation was associated with other countries. In Latin, the term Mensa refers to a table while in German it is a cafeteria. The plan of the organisation is not appreciated well in most countries because of conflicting meanings. Such issues hinder the effectiveness and the impact of the organisation in foreign countries, and it ends up only being effective in their home country.
- Puffs in Germany.
Puffs is an international company that deals with tissues. When the company introduced the commodity in Germany, it posed a serious challenge to the buyers. The term Puffs in German is a slang word referring to a ‘whorehouse’. It definitely must have been very challenging for the Germans to ascertain what they were buying truly; was it the tissues or someone else.
Cultural blunders translate into many losses for a company, and they portray a bad image of the company to the society. Strategies used by the different companies in the management and minimising on cultural blunders are almost similar, and they often yield a similar outcome. Cultural blunder negatively affects the host country in various ways. Most of the cultural blunders are made by foreign companies who do not understand the cultures where they have gone to establish their businesses. The lithograph of bullfighting made by the Coke Company in Cuba was an insult to their culture as bullfighting is prohibited in Cuba. The citizen of the country gets offended because it is an insult to their culture.
Most companies like Coke and Pepsi deal with a cultural blunder by developing counteracting advertisements to replace the initial ones. Coke resulted in researching more about the phonetics of the Chinese to get the right spelling and meaning of the new term that they were seeking to introduce. Some instances require companies like in the case of Pepsi to cease their operations in the specific country until when they are sure of their marketing strategies and operations.
There are a lot of benefits for companies when they avoid instances of cultural blunders. Their advertisements become successful and yield more sales for companies. Companies like Coke, Pepsi, and puffs, among others, should have taken various measures to avoid instances of cultural blunders. These measures begin right from the host country of the multi-national enterprise. The greatest strategy to avoid cultural blunders is to ensure that the marketing strategy is polite and thoughtful. Other strategies include:
Respecting the differences in culture. There is a great cultural difference among countries across the globe. Different countries have their unique ways of doing business and their general activities. These differences also influence the aspect of marketing for companies. The management of companies should heed to the various cultural differences and skew their marketing strategies to accommodate the cultural differences (Mukherjee & Ramos-Salazar, 2014). Coca Cola in China and Cuba and Mensa in Spain should have analysed the cultural differences in the countries they were eyeing to establish their business and their mother countries.
Exercising Good Listening Skills. A good listener will be able to detect issues or situations that work for the people and what is comfortable or uncomfortable to the people. The company representatives in the country should enhance their interactions with local partners or colleagues. They are well versed with the local language, culture and customs to help them understand the impact of cultural variations on their business operations.
Analysing from the other perspective. Once the company representative has learnt and understood the cultural differences, then it would be easier to make analysis from the perspective of the people of the host country (Williams, 2019). The companies highlighted above that made cultural blunders would have been better placed if they thought of the perception of the local on their adverts. Making analysis from the perspective of the local makes it easier for companies to avoid making such costly blunders.
Appropriate choice of words. Marketers and company representatives who develop advertisements should be mindful of their choice of words. Words can have both negative and positive impact on the locals. They may have a gross meaning that may not augur well with the locals. Poor choice of words may sound vulgar to the people and portray the company in a bad light. Languages have different versions, and their application differs too. Thus, a company needs to be sensitive to such matters.
Conducting a test-drive of messages. Before the release of any advert, companies should test their messages on social media platforms or other channels of communication (Enderle, 2018). Posting on these platforms is aimed at analysing the results and getting the most appropriate message to place on the adverts. Words, statements, phrases and even images are culturally significant, and they impact the perception of people on different matters.
The role of culture in all kinds of businesses cannot be underplayed. Companies should invest heavily in their human resources, especially those who venture into the international markets. International markets pose more challenges to businesses because of the varied cultures and traditions in the host countries. Failure to understand a particular culture can translate into many losses for a business because they will not achieve their anticipated outcomes.