Challenges of Managing Cultural Differences

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtcz1xn7LIA


The link above will bring you to the YouTube video I watched on the challenges of managing cultural differences by IESE professor Yih-teen Lee. Embedding the video was disabled, but you can find the video through this link. This video is great because it incorporates many ideas from the last two chapters as well as integrating everything about business globalization we have learned from the entire book.

The professor talks about the challenges of managing cultural differences, the role of Confucianism in business relationships, difficulties in entering the Chinese market for Western Countries, and developing cultural understanding. He starts out by explaining that culture is hard to approach because it is intangible and hard to determine. Companies need to dig deeper than just the surface of a culture in order to be successful in business transactions. If not, there will be failures, like in his example of an American/Korean transaction when the companies followed two conflicting business cultures.

The difficulty Western countries have entering the Chinese market has to do with Confucianism. Confucianism clearly defines the social roles in all different situations. He talked about the inner circle being extremely important in the Chinese culture. This reminded me of the movie “Meet the Parents” when the father held high value of those in the inner circle. Entering and remaining in the inner circle was very important. His example of how Nike entered the Chinese market showed the importance of understanding different cultures and how to translate information in a respectful way. Nike though they were being appropriate, but it ended up being offensive to the Chinese. Developing a deeper cultural understanding is important for both leaders and workers in order to be a globally successful company.

http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/

While searching the web for cross cultural communication information, I came across the website Kwintessential. This is a company that specializes in translation services, interpreters, multilingual design and intercultural communication training. The company is fairly new, just starting operations in 2003 to support globalization.

If you click on the link provided above, you can see that the company offers many different services in ensuring good communication throughout cultures. They have website translation, telephone interpreters, and even sell translation equipment for meetings and conferences. The website translation was very interesting to me. The company can take a US based website and modify it for a particular culture. The difference with website translation is that not only do the words need to be presented in a different language, but it needs to be reorganized and designed to portrayy the same message that is appropriate for that culture.

This company is truly amazing. If you click on the “Free Tools & Resources” link, you will find tons of interesting and helpful items. Some of the tools provided are: country etiquette guides, cultural quizzes, foreign language font uploads for your mac or pc, language identifier, and much more. Also, be sure to click on the Video of the Month located on the homepage. It shows a comic way in which people sometimes get lost in the translation.

Cultural Awareness International

I found this great video on youtube in which World Business Review reports on Cultural Awareness International (CAI). CAI is a company that bridges the gap for employees crossing cultures. They are a valuable resource for companies with international engagements because they offer such services as cross-cultural programs and relocation services.

CAI president, Priscila Montana, talks about how her company assists individuals and families that are living and working internationally. The cross-cultural training offers an interactive workshop where key elements are focused on, such as skill building, communication, cultural differences, and other important information the client may need. CAI is able to help successfully integrate the client into the community through such services as school search, home selection, and other settling in decisions.

As globalization occurs and companies continue to expand internationally or relocate abroad, the need for guidance on entering and expanding into international markets increases. CAI has the global reach of over 450 locations worldwide. Cultural awareness has become a necessity for global companies. The services offered by CAI are customized for each individual client or family. This will help impact the success of the international venture by focusing on each client to make sure the company and individual are knowledgeable and guided throughout the process.

Joint Venture EXAMPLE

Many companies enter a market through a joint venture, as mentioned as an entry strategy in the textbook. I found a youtube video about the Joint Venture between Volvo and Vattenfall (one of Europe’s top electric companies). They have come together to produce a Plug In Hybrid for the market in 2012. They are combining their techniques to develop a hybrid vehicle that can be charged through a standard wall socket.

The video mentions how each is working together to share the R&D expenses to develop the product more efficiently and quicker. The car expertise of Volvo and electric knowledge of Vattenfall will come together to form a new product. Vattenfall states that they are taking the motor vehicles to the next level by working with Volvo on this new technique.

The video goes on to show details on the car and how the electricity will work. The main point here shows that both companies have the same vision: safe and green products. It is important to get into a Joint Venture with another company that compliments yours and is heading in the same direction.

Bribery & FCPA

After reading the first three chapters of the textbook, I soon realized that the cultural differences in countries can cause problems with ethics as well as competitive advantages. I became interested in bribery among international transactions and the limitations of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977.

I read the article “Bourke Convicted of Bribery in Konzey’s Azerbaijan Oil Deal” http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aXO.vHLdvbcM . I wanted to find a current article that deals with international bribes and the FCPA. This article came out 7/11/2009. The article mainly discusses how Frederic Bourke was convicted by a US jury of conspiring to pay bribes to government leaders in Azerbaijan in a 1998 oil deal. This was a breakthrough case for the FCPA because Bourke was convicted even though he did not pay the bribes himself. He only knew of the bribes and was convicted of violating the FCPA, violating money-laundering laws, and lying to FBI agents

Bourke was on trial for investing with Viktor Konzey knowing that Konzey gave Azeri leaders millions of dollars in cash and a secret interest in a venture to buy the state oil company. Konzey is also being charged, but is currently living as a fugitive in the Bahamas. The most interesting part of the article was that Konzey admits to bribing Azeri leaders and claims he knew the money was being used as payoffs, but says that the FCPA does not apply to him because he is not a US citizen. The US is now appealing a Bahamian court’s refusal to extradite him.

The article ends with Konzey’s opinion on Bourke’s conviction. He states that Bourke deserves minimal sentence because “in our Judeo-Christian culture, we base our life on forgiveness”.

I thought this was a great article because it shows the problems faced with different rules and beliefs in different cultures and the limitations of the FCPA. Although Bourke faces sentencing later this month for his conviction, Konzey will face no consequences for now even though admitting to the bribes.

MGMT 355-W01 - International Management

This blog is now going to be used for MGMT 355-W01 - International Management. All the previous posts were for another MGMT class I took with Professor Grossman. From here on are the posts for MGMT 355.

Thanks!

Neural Networks for Poker?!

http://www.pokerbot-smart.com/

Clicking on the link above will bring you to a website for Smart Poker Bot. This is an automated bot that is designed to play poker games online. The application collects information from many sources in order to increase your chances of winning. It takes into consideration the hand that you have, the cards on the table, your table position, and the actions of the other players. All the data is combined and stored in a neural network that predicts the hand strengths of your opponents.

Being able to know the strength of the players, you can play the game better. You can then decide how much to bid and how much you are willing to risk based on the provided information. The application makes real-time adjustments with each action taken during the game. When it is your turn to make a move, you have the most accurate information available to help you win (or cheat) in online poker.

You can leave the bot to play for you on its own. The advanced poker software can make human decisions based on the playing style of the user.

You can click on the software screen shots on the website to get a better understanding of how the application works. There are also videos on YouTube that show the application in process.