While working on a project in Mexico this week, I was reminded of the great cultural differences that exist between there and the U.S. Not just those that affect consumers and their buying preferences but the business culture as well and how one must adapt to how partners, vendors and suppliers go about their business everyday.
Cultural bias affects us all. Those who think they have no bias are in denial. The challenge for each of us is how to confront our own bias, determine how it affects our business relationships in other countries and then try and tame it. I don’t say eliminate it. That’s delusional. All we can do, realistically, is recognize we each have it and try and mitigate how it affects us. Everyone is different and bias is intensely personal.
In my classes at NYU before I began each semester, I gave my students bias tests just to show them, in a humorous way, how we are all affected by it and just how ingrained it is. It can be influenced by personal experience but often is more generational as how people act in a culture and how they are perceived by others changes over time. My students’ biases were not mine as there was a generation gap between us. But theirs were just as inaccurate and misleading as mine. Some things never change.
To succeed in international marketing each of us has to recognize and control our bias demons. If you are interested in testing yourself, drop me a line and I’ll send some self-tests. In a week or two I’ll post these on our website. It’s fun and doesn’t hurt! Not much anyway. My e-mail is: doug@focus-worldwide.com
8/26/09
8/24/09
Point Systems
Following up last week's "Thought" about the French being French. Now the Brits are acting...well..very British. Let’s examine the highly protective UK environment where legislation may soon be enacted not to keep just things or institutions more British, but the actual people. "The Plan" is to tighten the requirements for citizenship by assigning a point system that all the undesirable foreign types invading the shores of the Mother country would have to score to reach the goal of British-hood. Points would be added for things like having talents that provide positive contributions to British life, being really good at football, owning Harrods, or not killing anyone for at least 5 years. Deductions would be taken for breaking the law, being anti-social (meaning not being very good at football), displaying disregard for British values, or for questioning why celebrities like Elton John receive knighthoods. OK. Some of these are my additions but I think they are good ones.
The fact that the UK would even consider such a point system is indicative of the national culture just as what the French do to try to preserve their institutions is very French. But this UK Plan may send the wrong message although I sympathize with many of the factors that have led to this rather extreme step.
Here in the U.S. I question whether every citizen really should have the right to vote. I know this sounds incendiary but if people are totally ignorant of the people and issues, on what basis are they deciding who to vote for? I don’t worry about the foreign born who have become citizens as they had to pass a Citizenship test that proves they understand issues and how our government works. I’m concerned with the native born idiots. And if this group becomes the majority of the voting public (I think it is getting there), then the candidates will become even more evasive about their stance of the issues and just run either a popularity contest or a mud-slinging negative campaign against their opponents. Neither serves our voters nor our institutions. And this ignorance crosses all social, ethnic, racial and religious lines. The uninformed are everywhere. And their voting decisions can affect us all in a very negative way. So let’s have at least a very elementary point system to determine if someone should be granted that priceless gift of being able to make an informed decision and vote. Our Founding Fathers didn’t think the average person had the brains to make informed decisions and that’s why we had Electors and the Electoral College. Maybe they were on to something.
Read entire article
The fact that the UK would even consider such a point system is indicative of the national culture just as what the French do to try to preserve their institutions is very French. But this UK Plan may send the wrong message although I sympathize with many of the factors that have led to this rather extreme step.
Here in the U.S. I question whether every citizen really should have the right to vote. I know this sounds incendiary but if people are totally ignorant of the people and issues, on what basis are they deciding who to vote for? I don’t worry about the foreign born who have become citizens as they had to pass a Citizenship test that proves they understand issues and how our government works. I’m concerned with the native born idiots. And if this group becomes the majority of the voting public (I think it is getting there), then the candidates will become even more evasive about their stance of the issues and just run either a popularity contest or a mud-slinging negative campaign against their opponents. Neither serves our voters nor our institutions. And this ignorance crosses all social, ethnic, racial and religious lines. The uninformed are everywhere. And their voting decisions can affect us all in a very negative way. So let’s have at least a very elementary point system to determine if someone should be granted that priceless gift of being able to make an informed decision and vote. Our Founding Fathers didn’t think the average person had the brains to make informed decisions and that’s why we had Electors and the Electoral College. Maybe they were on to something.
Read entire article
8/14/09
Thought Of The Week
More Support for Global Expansion.
Front page of today's (August 14, 2009) Wall Street Journal has a story on how Wal-Mart is adapting its strategy globally after failing initially. This article is directly under another saying that the EU, Asia and India are all recovering from the recession ahead of the U.S. The U.S. remains mired in consumer no-confidence due to continued job losses, tight credit and a weak housing market.
Back to Wal-Mart. What have they learned that we all eagerly wish to hear? That you can’t force ideas germinated in Bentonville, Arkansas USA on the rest of the world. Who would have thunk it? I’m shocked. The “one size fits all approach” is being scrapped in favor of adapting to local tastes. Even local infrastructures where things like chronic traffic congestion in many foreign cities make the vast big-box store model inefficient are influencing local retail marketing adaptations.
Why does Wal-Mart bother? Well, Wal-Mart and most other uber-corporations recognize that flaccid domestic sales need a dose of Viagra they can only get from expanding globally. While Wal-Mart’s U.S. sales declined 1.2% in 2nd Q 2009, overseas sales increased 11.5% and profits rose 13%. Wal-Mart has 1,300 stores in 14 countries overseas and estimates it will be spending an additional 5.3 billion dollars on foreign expansion this fiscal year..
They have found that strategies from the U.S. don’t often transplant overseas but strategies developed overseas often can be transplanted into other foreign markets. Interesting!
Front page of today's (August 14, 2009) Wall Street Journal has a story on how Wal-Mart is adapting its strategy globally after failing initially. This article is directly under another saying that the EU, Asia and India are all recovering from the recession ahead of the U.S. The U.S. remains mired in consumer no-confidence due to continued job losses, tight credit and a weak housing market.
Back to Wal-Mart. What have they learned that we all eagerly wish to hear? That you can’t force ideas germinated in Bentonville, Arkansas USA on the rest of the world. Who would have thunk it? I’m shocked. The “one size fits all approach” is being scrapped in favor of adapting to local tastes. Even local infrastructures where things like chronic traffic congestion in many foreign cities make the vast big-box store model inefficient are influencing local retail marketing adaptations.
Why does Wal-Mart bother? Well, Wal-Mart and most other uber-corporations recognize that flaccid domestic sales need a dose of Viagra they can only get from expanding globally. While Wal-Mart’s U.S. sales declined 1.2% in 2nd Q 2009, overseas sales increased 11.5% and profits rose 13%. Wal-Mart has 1,300 stores in 14 countries overseas and estimates it will be spending an additional 5.3 billion dollars on foreign expansion this fiscal year..
They have found that strategies from the U.S. don’t often transplant overseas but strategies developed overseas often can be transplanted into other foreign markets. Interesting!
8/6/09
Going Biblical
“I have been a stranger in a strange land.” I don’t think I fit in, in America, anymore. I am nearly positive that I am the only guy who hasn’t reaped mega-bucks through some form of scam, stock fraud or Ponzi scheme. OK maybe I’m exaggerating. But I am convinced that I’m the only guy who doesn’t qualify for a mortgage bailout because I didn’t buy a house I couldn’t afford or borrow so much money against the equity in my home that now I owe more than the house is worth.
Quiz time! What does it mean that a company is too big to fail? For decades America have been strong-arming the WTO and World Bank into forcing the American economic model upon hapless countries that were quite happy and prosperous with their own systems. And the fundamental tenet was a free market system. Well, in that system, competition reigns. The weak and inefficient give way to the strong and innovative. So let AIG, GM, Chrysler, monster banks and others fail. It’s what they deserve for obscene CEO payouts and only looking ahead 3 months to the next quarterly report. Let them fail! It’s the American way. Subsidizing these companies with government tax revenues and nationalizing banks. Why that’s un-American. It’s downright European!!!
Big companies are not that important to the economic health of America. The backbone of America has always been and will always be small companies, small farmers, small business owners. 99% of America’s +27 million companies have fewer than 500 employees. For the past decade small businesses have generated 60-80% of net new jobs and produce 13 times more patents per employee than large companies.
Read entire article
Quiz time! What does it mean that a company is too big to fail? For decades America have been strong-arming the WTO and World Bank into forcing the American economic model upon hapless countries that were quite happy and prosperous with their own systems. And the fundamental tenet was a free market system. Well, in that system, competition reigns. The weak and inefficient give way to the strong and innovative. So let AIG, GM, Chrysler, monster banks and others fail. It’s what they deserve for obscene CEO payouts and only looking ahead 3 months to the next quarterly report. Let them fail! It’s the American way. Subsidizing these companies with government tax revenues and nationalizing banks. Why that’s un-American. It’s downright European!!!
Big companies are not that important to the economic health of America. The backbone of America has always been and will always be small companies, small farmers, small business owners. 99% of America’s +27 million companies have fewer than 500 employees. For the past decade small businesses have generated 60-80% of net new jobs and produce 13 times more patents per employee than large companies.
Read entire article
8/4/09
Thought Of The Week
Be Like the French
France made the Wall Street Journal the other day regarding the strong objection to store openings on Sunday. Retailers claim that with the economy sagging, extended hours will bring in more profits. Stores and areas that cater to tourists are open but many others remain closed as Sunday is a day reserved for family. France is a protectionist society. They take all kinds of measures to protect their language, food, wine and culture. Part of their culture is leisure time. Here in the U.S. we make fun of cultures that pride themselves on leisure time. We forget that our Puritan founders shut things down on Sunday as this was a day to devote to prayer (and family). Now we worship at the mall on Sundays.
Productivity, efficiency, competitiveness are the watchwords here. But it’s really a myth.
We confuse quantity with quality. We may work more hours per week on average. But is this really efficient? Are we putting in the hours but wasting time on the job BECAUSE we have to be visible for so many hours? I think so. Happy and efficient workers make for efficient companies. Balancing family, work and leisure time is no easy task and our society does little to tackle this issue. Forward thinking companies here find that most of their innovation comes from employees during free or unstuctured time. And perhaps other cultures understand the balancing act better.
And I bet they are more efficient. Should we live to work or work to live?
If we think we are more competitive, we are fooling ourselves. Just look at our educational system. It is greatly inferior to many systems especially those in Asia. Japanese families are concerned when they move here because they fear their children will suffer if mired in the U.S. schools and fall behind when they return home.
So let’s be more French. Protect our leisure and family time. Closing things on Sundays won’t be the end of American society. It won’t happen here where the “Almighty” refers to the dollar.. But we shouldn’t judge other cultures for not following our inefficient model.
France made the Wall Street Journal the other day regarding the strong objection to store openings on Sunday. Retailers claim that with the economy sagging, extended hours will bring in more profits. Stores and areas that cater to tourists are open but many others remain closed as Sunday is a day reserved for family. France is a protectionist society. They take all kinds of measures to protect their language, food, wine and culture. Part of their culture is leisure time. Here in the U.S. we make fun of cultures that pride themselves on leisure time. We forget that our Puritan founders shut things down on Sunday as this was a day to devote to prayer (and family). Now we worship at the mall on Sundays.
Productivity, efficiency, competitiveness are the watchwords here. But it’s really a myth.
We confuse quantity with quality. We may work more hours per week on average. But is this really efficient? Are we putting in the hours but wasting time on the job BECAUSE we have to be visible for so many hours? I think so. Happy and efficient workers make for efficient companies. Balancing family, work and leisure time is no easy task and our society does little to tackle this issue. Forward thinking companies here find that most of their innovation comes from employees during free or unstuctured time. And perhaps other cultures understand the balancing act better.
And I bet they are more efficient. Should we live to work or work to live?
If we think we are more competitive, we are fooling ourselves. Just look at our educational system. It is greatly inferior to many systems especially those in Asia. Japanese families are concerned when they move here because they fear their children will suffer if mired in the U.S. schools and fall behind when they return home.
So let’s be more French. Protect our leisure and family time. Closing things on Sundays won’t be the end of American society. It won’t happen here where the “Almighty” refers to the dollar.. But we shouldn’t judge other cultures for not following our inefficient model.
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