Intercultural Communication in international market

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Summary

In international marketing, it is needed to communicate with the different aspects of

information and in different countries and culture. In the modern world the increasement in

globalization it intercultural seem to be important to create and growth of the business. The

information and communications revolution has speed up the globalization process and its

positive effects on the marketing and to the business as well. Not only the big enterprises

who have entered in to the globalization but also the medium and small size enterprises or

companies all are confronted with the diverse culture as these enterprises or companies

moves to the international market through expanding its business. Not all the companies or

enterprises that enter in to global arena are well prepared with the diverse culture

environment in the existing market because of some inefficient approach or lacking in the

intercultural communication.

There are number of firms or enterprises which are indeed got fail even though having the

superior products and services that cater to the need of the customers but because of lack of

the intercultural competence with others. The cross culture communication is very important

to avoid the disregard of the cultural competence in the business transaction and may lead to

the mistakes because of the cultural misunderstanding that happens because of the

miscommunication. The lack of the cross cultural knowledge and miscommunication number

of firm or companies get fail in the business process when it comes to the globalization.

There have been enhancements in the ways so that the intercultural practice could be

beneficial for the international marketing.

Introduction

There is one question always in the mind of the people as why the companies always tries to

expand its business activities to the international market and out of them only few get huge

success but number of them none? The answer to this question is that companies often go for

international market because of the motive of financial strength and entrance of the business

in to the new market for more potential customers and most of them fails because of the

miscommunication to the cross cultural environment. (Mole John, 2003) This report aims to

in depth analysis of the intercultural issues and their enhancement for the benefits of the

international market. Every business wants to increase its turnover through the international

market and hopes for the higher profits from the market. Once it has been found that the

company can be bigger and the international expansion will be beneficial it enters in the

international market but forgets about the intercultural communication that is needed to for

the growth and establishment of the company. The sales potential is also important to analyse

for the company’s products and services in the international market.

There are few things which company need to analyse and figure out like legal, technical

requirements and environmental regulations while need to enter in the new international

market to promote its products and another thing to analyse after it is the logistics and

distribution of the products and services. But more than these factors the most vital factor that

company ignored in the reparation phase is the cultural environment of the international

market. Failure to consider this factor while entering in the international market is the falling

of the business soon after establishment. Intercultural (Beamer, L & Varner, I 2001) is a vita

factor that mostly influences the consumer behaviour and ultimately affects the company’s

growth and stability in the international market or in the cross cultural environment. This is

not an issue only for the firms that are entering in the international market or those have the

lack of the international experience but it happens to the big fully established firms that

already expanded its business to international market. For example, the international

experience of BMW & Rover as well as Daimler & Chrysler that entered in the international

market but lack of cross cultural communication, these could not stand in the international

market against the local competitors.

Communication is nothing but it is just the exchange of meanings between the individuals

with the use of the common symbols. In case of international marketing there is high need of

communication competence because through it in social situations in the international market,

command and selecting of the different languages to interact with the local people help to

understand the consumer perspectives. (Bennett, Janet Marie, 1986. Pp.117-134) There are

few factors that mostly influence the cultural environment such as the word of language we

select when speak is our culture, our state of mind, our social status, our norms and moral

concepts. Likewise any culture in the world, create its own identity and social status and if

that is ignored or not considered while thinking to enter in the international market, will

definitely lead to the failure of the business. Every language is a cultural reflection in the

world and communication (Brislin Richard W. 1986, pp. 215-234) is very effective due to the

use of the local language. It generates the self-awareness and finds the identity. This report is

also based on the same analysis that why intercultural communication is important and what

are the existing issues and how they can be made beneficial for the firms that are entering or

already established in the international market.

Intercultural Communication practice

The basic element of the communication process those are important while communicating

such as message, message sender, medium and the receiver of the message. It is not necessary

that this can only happen in the same culture or environment but it can happen between the

people from the different culture or may be to the people from the different regions. For

example, two people from United Kingdom communicating in the native language

(Schneider, S. & Barsoux, 1997) describes their social status and their identity through the

communicating way as they belong to the same culture and same country. In other case, if

one belongs to the China and other belongs to United Kingdom then it will be very difficult

to communicate with each other unless they know the common language so it is very difficult

to communicate. The sender of the message is someone having personal, professional, social

and informational desire (AXTELL et al, 1998) to communicate to others. This world is now

very small place than earlier age. At this time there are few words like global village, global

markets and globalization which are the new buzzwords in the existing environment of the

international market. There are number of people who are going from one country to another

and also number of firms that are setting up its businesses and reaching to the global

customers in the overseas countries.

In this scenario, the intercultural practice becomes more important to understand the view of

the consumer and take action accordingly. The key changes that it triggered are the need to

communicate effectively with the people that belong to the different culture and speak

different languages. The important factor is that this world is increasing in the bilingual and

knowing the second language (Brislin, Richard W, 1995, pp. 169-177) is considered as the

necessity in the society either in the native place or in the foreign country. The growing

number of companies globally in the international market and having the diverse culture

workforce it is mandatory for the companies to understand the cross cultural environment and

also start the intercultural communication for the better result and outcome. People with

knowledge of a foreign language find themselves at a distinct advantage. (Garden Swartz,

L.& Rowe, A. 1994) This has promoted that the secondary language is important to grow and

gives the distinctive advantages. Same, it can be said that for the international market the

importance of the cross cultural environment and the intercultural communication both are on

the priority list.

One can grow in the international market if there is no knowledge of the intercultural

communication. Any person who belongs to the other country need to understand the other

international language otherwise there will be an issue of communicating in the international

environment. Increasingly (Gudykunst, William B, 1996, pp.61-80) there is the realization

that merely concentrating on structures and forms of the language is not enough to help

people genuinely communicate in today’s world. Intercultural awareness and learning is a

must. Ignorance of the cultural knowledge and communication skills in different languages

may causes offence in the development of the business and growing of the customer base.

These days, the business expansion only depends on the cultural analysis and intercultural

communication practices.

Going global is now necessary to reach to the number of millions of customers and therefore

the generating revenue from the expansion of the business and growing number of customers.

But the main challenge to reach to the millions of the customers in the international market is

the intercultural communications (Guirdham, M, 2005). Numbers of well established

organizations have been stung with the intercultural communication issues as while moving

to the international market. Prior Companies can go global in many ways or for many

reasons.

The Significance of Intercultural and Communication

Intercultural communication can’t be ignored while moving in to the international market.

The vital factor in the international market is intercultural communication understanding

because this is the only thing by which the big or small firm can reach to the international

customers. All the cultural patterns (Hagen, S., 2005) are a part of our lives and behaviour.

These cultural patterns enable to the humans to interact to each other easily with the other

humans who also have the similar image of reality and similar environment. That’s why it

can be said that culture is considered as the artificial human creation. This cultural theory of

artificial interaction is supported by the scientific evidences in the modern and also in the past

ages. It is observed that the small numbers of individuals are responsible for the cultural

change or can say as cultural diversity (Kirton, G. & Greene, A-M, 2005) because of the

genetic differences. Same happens in case of the international market as few people in the

firms that is established in the overseas country if have the few people in the organization

with different culture and language will affect the entire culture of the organization.

These few people of different culture will help in connecting with the customers and

understanding their perceptions about the organization and their need. Thus, it is sure that if

the intercultural communication was not in the organization it was difficult to understand the

requirement and their perceptions towards the organization and to take actions accordingly.

The important thing is to note that international market primarily depends on the intercultural

communication (Kushner, K., & Landis, D.,1996) because the business is settled there to

increase the customer database and to promote its brand and products & services which can’t

be possible unless the local culture is not known to the people in the organization. Therefore,

the importance of the intercultural communication is not hidden. The growth of the firm in

the international market is not possible without understanding the intercultural

communication and cross cultural environment. However, group interaction created not only

culture, but also communication which led to language development.

Thus, if individuals of a group wish to interact with each other, it becomes necessary for them

to be able to communicate with one another. For without communication, there can be no

human interaction. And without human interaction (Lago, Colin and Barty, Alison , 2001)

there can be no culture because culture is the sum total of human interaction. For example,

suppose a company from Japan want to establish another service office in India and it mostly

provides the health care services. In this case as India is mostly a Hindi language dominant

and the culture is very religious and dominated to the rural areas. This means that the Japan

Company needs to understand the Indian culture and its language to communicate effectively.

If the Japan Company really wants to expand the business in rural areas for better customer

base it is mandatory to learn the intercultural communication skill to interact with them. This

is the most important thing and thus can say that intercultural communication in case of

international market plays a vital role. Therefore, in the today’s world it is necessary to first

analyse the culture of the region where the company want to enter as in international market.

Enhanced awareness of issues

Intercultural communication seems more important than others things while moving in the

international market. There are some issues existing because of which more organizations are

unable to communicate (Thorpe, M et al, 1993) with the different culture people and unable

to adopt the cross cultural communication environment which results in the failure of the

organization at very early stage. For this there is need to have the strong awareness of the

intercultural communication so that organizations (Landis, D., & Bhagat, Rabi, 1996) can

strongly have the customers perceptions and the chances of failure because of the cultural

competitiveness can be reduced. No one usually takes the time to go back and analyze the

reason why successful intercultural communication happens. It is easy to go unnoticed. It is

when difficulties pop up, and when cultural blunders blow up, that we usually want to know

the secret for successful intercultural communication (Marx, E. 2001). There are few skills

and strategies need to improve the awareness for the intercultural communication which will

beneficial to the organizations. Some people or can say firms can easily understand the

culture competitiveness than others and become successful in their business expansion.

There is one thing among the business is mindset which is very important to understand the

cross cultural environment and intercultural communication because if the organization’s

mindset is to adopt the intercultural communication it will be easy to move ahead in the

international market. The right international mind-set eliminates many of the risks in

miscommunication (Paige, R., Michael, & Martin, Judith, N, 1996, pp.35-60). It has been

found that while analysing the different situations for the international market establishment,

there is need of estimating the importance of the cross cultural environment and intercultural

communication. There are number people in the big organizations who always underestimate

the importance of their own mindset which is necessary for the successful cross cultural

communication. There are many differences between the cultures of different countries and

that needs a lot of attention to understand the difference of the cultures (Pedersen, P, 1997,

pp.149-160). With the right mindset that is most important, the people or organizations can

improve the cross cultural communication skills beyond the measure. So it is important to

have the right mindset about the other culture otherwise the bad mindset for the other culture

will limit the international cultural skills.

There are few people, who find themselves to easy adoption of the intercultural

communication because of their good mindset (Schwartz, S, 1994, pp. 85-122). The good

mindset is definitely an option for easy to cultivate the good cross cultural practices and helps

in engaging with the others cultures. It is not always that the good mindset is a natural thing

but a good cross cultural mindset comes because of the mixture of the experience and the

personal commitment to make the changes that are needed based on the present requirement.

For the international business strategies it is firmly important to set the mind for a good

intercultural (Fowler, S., & Mumford, Monica G, 1995, pp-179-186) communication. The

people need to have the awareness of the different culture and the languages with the good

mindset towards that culture. In international marketing it is necessary to communicate

successfully with the target group so that that target group can be the customer base of the

firm and can buy the product and services of the firm. Awareness about the local

requirement, their religion, their lifestyle and their behaviour for any international market

environment is necessary to build the strong relationship and slowly – slowly learn their

culture and also in the organization there is need to hire the people from the existing culture

and communities (Wright, Albert R, 1995, pp.127-139) so that the communication can be

done effectively. Since culture and communication are inseparable, international marketing

needs to also consider culture in its attempt to communicate effectively and successfully with

its target group in a specific target market. If it is not done so then it will be very difficult to

communicate with the prospective customers.

There are many training institutes which allow learning to the people who are from other

culture and speak other languages than the local languages. They make them aware about the

mental skills, learning skills, communication skills and the behavioural skills of the people

and the local culture. Positive actions (Ellingsworth, H.W, 1983, pp. 195-204)are also

important by the human there in other cultural environment as if the person belong to Chinese

culture but he lives in the American culture then the person need not to worry about the

American culture and language but positively face that which helps in encouraging and

improving the American culture easily. In the same way, the firm who are willing to go

global need to positively face the problems by accepting their culture and involving the

organizations activities (Kim Y.Y., 1995, pp. 170-194), in their culture. It will not only

increase the awareness about their culture and language but also increase the relationship

with them that will significantly help to improvement of the intercultural communication as

the international marketing perspectives. When communicating with people from another

culture, however, we must determine how they impose structure on the process of

communication if we are to interpret and predict their behaviour accurately. It is very clear

that in case of the international marketing, it is necessary to consider the intercultural

communication for better result and growth in the market.

There are few things which are really important for the organizations to have awareness in

the international market (Spitzberg, B. H. 2000, pp. 385-387)so that intercultural

communication can be improved. The important things are as follows that connects to the

customers in the global market.

Expansion: International market entry is done by the expanding its business and by

understanding the cross cultural environment and intercultural communication through the

establishment of the firm as local entity according to their requirement and existing

environment.

Joint Ventures: Cross cultural compunction and intercultural communication can be improved

through the joint ventures in the international market. With these expansion and joint

ventures, the culture of other country can be transferred to native country and native country

to there. Intercultural communication impacts a business every step of the way on the road to

going global. This is true at both a macro and micro-level. Thus, it can be said that there is

need to have awareness about the intercultural communication practice in the international

market.

Target Audience

International marketing is a requirement of the today’s increasing demand of the products and

services and also increase in the competition of economic development, financial strength

and larger customer base. For international market it is needed to explore the things globally

in terms of intercultural communication and cross cultural environment because it plays a

vital role in the improvement and establishment (Wiseman, Richard L, 2003, pp. 191-204) of

the firm in the international market. For all this the targeted audiences belongs to the

category of different culture from the different countries with the different languages.

Basically the big enterprises, medium and small enterprises or companies comes under the

targeted audience category because in the international market only the firms can establish its

own office or franchise or might possible to go for acquisitions and merger if necessary.

The entire world with diverse culture and diverse languages is the targeted audiences in the

international market. The employees working in the organizations, local franchisees and joint

ventures also come as the targeted audiences because intercultural communication is only

possible when the firm settle its business to another country where the working people in the

firm, joint ventures and in local franchisees belong to the different culture and different

languages. Intercultural communication helps in growing better and to reach with the

customers globally easily and also to understand the requirement of the local customers with

different culture. The people living in the specific country or in the specific cultural

environment are the main target in the international market that many companies look for. In

any case if the company wants to go to global market it is necessary to study the potential

customers in the diverse culture with diverse languages.

Conclusion

Intercultural communication in case of the international marketing is surely a very powerful

tool which is used to maximise the revenue of the firm and increase in the base of the

potential customers. Understanding the human requirements of the different culture is very

important to survive there and to compete with the other competitors or can say with the local

competitors. It happens because of the minimizing the obstacles of intercultural issues and

being pro-active as well as starting the new horizons that allows the different cultural

viewpoints by working together and successfully.

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