Issues in International Business Mutual Language and Social Norms

Question: Discuss about theIssues in International Businessfor Mutual Language and Social Norm. Answer: Introduction: The planet is full of cultural diversity and several individual tends to live in his or her own cultural limits. Every individual has his or her own cultural customs and ethics that influence their thought process. Each cultural group usually share a mutual language, social norms and culture influencing their beliefs, attitudes, feelings and feastings. Cross-cultural marketing can be defined as the strategic process of marketing amongst the customers whose culture is different from that of the marketers own culture. Cross-cultural marketing takes the advantage of traditional groups, which is different from the cultural norms to communicate and convince the audience (Ang Van, 2015). Instances of fundamental cultural aspects illustrates the education, religion, fiscal systems, business customs and laws. The current report is based on the study of Japanese economy and culture, which discovers the Japanese style of business negotiations to better understand their process of expanding bu siness. Rationale for the Choice of Country: As per Barlett et al., (2014) Japanese customs and culture is highly influenced by China. It is observed that Japanese have overcame extraordinary understanding under various aspects of their political, economic, technological and cultural dimensions. Japanese are in pursuit of excellence towards materiality in society. Japanese have a high regard for individual achievements and largely have faith in humanism. The speciality of individual are considered as a vital cultural possession, which is encouraged by the government. They highly endorse technology and skills without shutting down themselves from others. Accordingly, they are innovative based on the tradition as they are highly impacted by Chinese and western culture. Japanese thoughtfully adapt themselves to the creation of rising trend while continuously and concurrently learning new ideas and things. They often combine the rising trend with their traditional culture and form a hybrid culture. The economy of Japan is highly developed and its GDP per capital has exceeded by thirty thousand US dollars. The total amount of GDP computed is based on the international exchange rate in the world. Meanwhile, Japan is ranked as the fourth largest country in terms of export country and is ranked sixth largest in terms of import country. After the World War II several questions were raised regarding the economic stability of Japan, however Japan had put forward huge effort with innovative technology and technical expertise leading to economic turnaround, which forms a worthy of deep researching. As stated by Bochner, (2013) Japanese investors operates their business under conservative environment. They do not anticipate making reinvestment to gain higher profits but hoping to grow their company in a stable environment. Detailed Cultural Analysis of Host Country: As Per Boer Fischer, (2013) Japan is regarded as the 4th largest economy as of 2011. The gross national income per capita of Japan represents USD 45,180. Huge advancements have been made in the technology with high-income populations and superior imports Japan is currently one of the most profitable marketplaces in the world. However, many businesses have been unsuccessful to make use of the creative market due to poor interpretation of the corporate standards. These corporate rules are usually termed as their culture and to make a successful use of the business prevailing openings in Japan, one must understand that it is not the Japanese culture, which stands in the way rather it, is the individual poor ability to judge the Japanese culture (Lckenhoff et al., 2015). Japanese systems involve high product of efforts in preserving harmony, as harmony forms the centrepiece revolving the life and business environment. Japanese put up their efforts in sustaining the harmony, which forms the hierarchical construction of group behaviour and social welfare. A better understanding of the Japanese culture can disclose the unknown myth of Japanese business and concurrently business forms the better understanding of the Japanese culture leading to successful corporate venture in Japan. Several companies such as BMW, Channel and Tiffany have been able to earn huge return from Japan; this is because of the superior understanding of the Japanese Business Culture. Westerners have continuously raised queries regarding successful business practices and methodology. It should be noted that Japanese does take long time in framing decision and use indirect method of communications, as they still have been fruitful in several busyness areas (Johnson Grier, 2013). The answer lies in observation. This is because western business firms have been ignorant towards the culture of Japan and they are unable to notice the Japanese business practice, which is hostile, but rather involve their perception towards business practice. Japan is regarded as the tech nological front-runner and its economic asset is a pointer of its business success. Several companies have expressed their desire of expanding their business whereas countless have been unsuccessful and their disappointment has put many economic strategies on hold. Several entrepreneurs have expressed dissatisfaction over the business practices of Japan, which is not suitable to the overall commercial practices that are prevalent in western countries. The process of decision-making is unclear and consumes a large number of time in reaching decision; this is time consuming for any business to wait. In addition to this, one of the common dissatisfaction raised regarding the business practices of Japan is the vagueness of their responses (Kapur Janakiram, 2015). In an astonishing manner, several businesses like BMW, Chanel, Tiffany Co. On the other hand, similar other MNCs have attained accomplishment in Japan by understanding the business culture of Japan right from its origins. These companies are not only aware of the Japanese culture but also understand the speci fic cultural aspects, which correspond with the business behaviour. With Japans technical progression and innovative approach, they can play a vital role developing the forthcoming future of several western businesses viewing the prospect to develop and expand. Elasticity and acceptance of the host country culture of work is vital to fruitful commercial endeavours. To operate under the Japanese business culture one need to have an in depth understanding of the Japanese culture where the values are incorporated within everyone. Highlight of Business Culture of Host Country (Japan) and its Difference with (Singapore): In the modern world, countries that offer a strong platform for international trade and commerce gains huge favours from investors as this helps in flourishing business. Several key factors such as legal and regulatory environment, steady government structure, topographical location, accessibility of high quality workers, open trade environment, tax system and general business environment are considered as the most important in forming investment decisions (Koeda et al., 2013). The study compares the dominion of Singapore and Japan along with the above-mentioned factors that takes into the account their rankings in various international surveys and business indices. Singapore is ranked number one in the world bank 2011 ease of doing business report for a fifth year in a row which reiterates its higher degree of business friendliness. However, Japans 18th position reflects that its regulatory environment is less favourable in commencement and operation of local firm. The process of company registration in Singapore can be achieved in a record time of 24 hours as it involves easy process of approval and submission of incorporation documents (Rallapalli Montgomery, 2015). On the other hand, incorporating company in Japan can take up as long as 23 days time. The World Bank placed Singapore at number four for starting a business and placed 2nd position for investor relations. Furthermore, Singapore was ranked first in conducting across the border trade and placed 4th position for taxes. In contrast, Japan was ranked at 98th position commencing business, with number 16 for protecting investors. Meanwhile, Japan was placed at 112th position for paying tax and 24th for conducting across the border trade. The results from 2015 best countries result represents that Singapore is the ranked eighth best country in the world as a business destination while Japan is ranked at 26th position (Marsella Pedersen, 2013). Singapore is placed highest because of hig h level of trade freedom and lack of red tape whereas Japan was ranked at 68th position. Singapore is considered as the second fastest economy in the world where as Japan is ranked at 20th position. The world of economic forum reported that the Singapore is ranked at number at 1 position for openness to trade among 125 countries while Japan was ranked at 25th position. According to reports, Japan is considered as one of the most domestically protected market with highly complex schedule of Tariff. This limits the openness to foreign participation with restricted rules of FDI and burdensome customs procedures (Johnson, Grier, 2013). In contrast to this, Singapore scored number 1 position local and overseas marketplace access with highly efficient tax management, effective importation and export measures with supervisory environment and superiority of transportation services. Hofstede Cultural Dimensions: Hofstede theory of cultural dimensions is understood as the context for cross-cultural communications, which is established by Geert Hofstede. It labels the effort, which effects the societys culture on the standards of its memberships and how these morals relate to the behaviour by using the structure generated from factor analysis. The magnitudes of Hofstede culture are useful in the context of the international marketing as it lays down the nationwide values not only in context of the business but also in general. Moran et al., (2013) has studied the relevance of Hofstedes theory in discovering the international branding, marketing strategy and consumer behaviour. According to this model, several companies have tried to familiarize their goods and services to domestic consumer behaviours and preference to better understand the specificity of their market. Japanese citizens are well prepared regarding the culture and customs of the country where they want to do business and adapt their own actions to meet the local requirement. Japan demands understanding the cultural values to perform the Japaneses way of doing business. It is noteworthy to denote that Japan imports 60% of its caloric needs. Japan is vastly reliant on the importations for petroleum and raw supplies. An economy, which as big a Japan with high requirement of raw ingredients it, offers business with opening to develop a trusted partnership for supply of raw materials (Hofstede, 2013). Advancement in technology would lead to production of huge number of final goods produced within the country, which can work as raw material for Japan in their high tech. Japanese culture of young consumer reflects that individuals stick together in groups according to their age and communal status. The youth of Japan is the highest spender in the entire demographics and the assembly of groups represents that if one spends the other will spend as well. This generates an environment of striking marketplace sections for any corporations (Thomas Peterson, 2014). Any company setting its processes in Japan and retailing their products to youth will understand what appeals the youth specific needs and what appeals irrelevant. Cross-cultural marketing aspects involve strategic procedure of marketing among the consumers consisting of cultural differences from that of the marketers own culture. Japanese spending is constrained by the consumer expenditure which evidently amplified by 2.3% in comparison to the western customers. This represents that exploration of the Japanese market can be productive enterprise. However, depression remains the major worry in European economy but Japan overcame its depression in February 2012 as the core consumer price index increased by 0.1% in February over the last year. Conclusion: To conclude with, Japanese cultural factors are significant in building and maintaining business relationships with entrepreneurs. It is noteworthy to denote that Japanese are aware of the reciprocity and overseas company having business operations in japan must have the willingness to understand the culture of Japan in depth. One must note that international interpersonal relationships form the key element of conducting business in Japan. Trust does not remain dependent upon the written agreement but are recognized with interpersonal relationships defining the long-term approach including the obligation to large run business relationships. This is regarded as indispensable component of doing business in Japan. The overall study of Japanese economy and culture provided an in-depth exploration of the Japanese style of business to better understand their process of expanding business. Japanese business practice is hostile but rather involve their perception hierarchical structure of gr oup behaviour and social welfare. Reference List: Ang, S., Van Dyne, L. (2015).Handbook of cultural intelligence. Routledge. Bakir, A., Blodgett, J. G., Vitell, S. J., Rose, G. M. (2015). A preliminary investigation of the reliability and validity of Hofstedes cross cultural dimensions. InProceedings of the 2000 Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) Annual Conference(pp. 226-232). Springer International Publishing. Barlett, C. P., Gentile, D. A., Anderson, C. A., Suzuki, K., Sakamoto, A., Yamaoka, A., Katsura, R. (2014). Cross-Cultural Differences in Cyberbullying Behavior A Short-Term Longitudinal Study.Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology,45(2), 300-313. Bochner, S. (Ed.). (2013).Cultures in contact: Studies in cross-cultural interaction(Vol. 1). Elsevier. Boer, D., Fischer, R. (2013). How and when do personal values guide our attitudes and sociality? Explaining cross-cultural variability in attitudevalue linkages.Psychological Bulletin,139(5), 1113. De Mooij, M. (2013).Global marketing and advertising: Understanding cultural paradoxes. Sage Publications. Hofstede, G. (2013). Hofstede cultural dimensions theory. Johnson, G. D., Grier, S. A. (2013). Understanding the influence of cross-cultural Consumer-to-Consumer Interaction on consumer service satisfaction.Journal of Business Research,66(3), 306-313 Kapur, N., Janakiram, B. (2015). Comparative Analysis Of Corporate Cross Cultural Management In It Vs Non It Organizations.CrossCultural Management Journal, (8), 99-114. Koeda, M., Belin, P., Hama, T., Masuda, T., Matsuura, M., Okubo, Y. (2013). Cross-cultural differences in the processing of non-verbal affective vocalizations by Japanese and Canadian listeners. Lckenhoff, C. E., Lee, D. S., Buckner, K. M., Moreira, R. O., Martinez, S. J., Sun, M. Q. (2015). Cross-Cultural Differences in Attitudes About Aging: Moving Beyond the East-West Dichotomy. InSuccessful Aging(pp. 321-337). Springer Netherlands. Marsella, A. J., Pedersen, P. B. (Eds.). (2013).Cross-Cultural Counseling and Psychotherapy: Pergamon General Psychology Series(Vol. 93). Elsevier. Minkov, M., Hofstede, G. (2012).Cross-cultural analysis: the science and art of comparing the world's modern societies and their cultures. Sage Moran, R. T., Abramson, N. R., Moran, S. V. (2014).Managing cultural differences. Routledge. Rallapalli, K. C., Montgomery, C. D. (2015). Marketing Strategies For Asian-Americans: Guidelines Based on Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions. InMinority Marketing: Research Perspectives for the 1990s(pp. 73-77). Springer International Publishing. Thomas, D. C., Peterson, M. F. (2014).Cross-cultural management: Essential concepts. Sage Publications.