Results of Poor Cross Cultural Awareness

Written by Neil Payne


Having a poor understanding ofrepparttar influence of cross cultural differences in areas such as management, PR, advertising and negotiations can eventually lead to blunders that can have damaging consequences.

It is crucial for today’s business personnel to understandrepparttar 104133 impact of cross cultural differences on business, trade and internal company organisation. The success or failure of a company, venture, merger or acquisition is essentially inrepparttar 104134 hands of people. If these people are not cross culturally aware then misunderstandings, offence and a break down in communication can occur.

The need for greater cross cultural awareness is heightened in our global economies. Cross cultural differences in matters such as language, etiquette, non-verbal communication, norms and values can, do and will lead to cross cultural blunders.

To illustrate this we have provided a few examples of cross cultural blunders that could have been avoided with appropriate cross cultural awareness training:

An American oil rig supervisor in Indonesia shouted at an employee to take a boat to shore. Since it is no-one berates an Indonesian in public, a mob of outraged workers chasedrepparttar 104135 supervisor with axes.

Pepsodent tried to sell its toothpaste in Southeast Asia by emphasizing that it "whitens your teeth." They found out thatrepparttar 104136 local natives chew betel nuts to blacken their teeth which they find attractive.

A company advertised eyeglasses in Thailand by featuring a variety of cute animals wearing glasses. The ad was a poor choice since animals are considered to be a form of low life and no self respecting Thai would wear anything worn by animals.

The soft drink Fresca was being promoted by a saleswoman in Mexico. She was surprised that her sales pitch was greeted with laughter, and later embarrassed when she learned that fresca is slang for "lesbian."

When President George Bush went to Japan with Lee Iacocca and other American business magnates, and directly made explicit and direct demands on Japanese leaders, they violated Japanese etiquette. Torepparttar 104137 Japanese (who use high context language) it is considered rude and a sign of ignorance or desperation to lower oneself to make direct demands. Some analysts believe it severely damagedrepparttar 104138 negotiations and confirmed torepparttar 104139 Japanese that Americans are barbarians.

A soft drink was introduced into Arab countries with an attractive label that had stars on it--six-pointed stars. The Arabs interpreted this as pro-Israeli and refused to buy it. Another label was printed in ten languages, one of which was Hebrew--againrepparttar 104140 Arabs did not buy it.

Splitting the Roles of CEO and Chairman

Written by Jessica Klein


Traditionally, in American businesses,repparttar same person occupiesrepparttar 104132 role of chairman ofrepparttar 104133 board and chief executive officer, though this is gradually shifting torepparttar 104134 European model. In most European, British, and Canadian businesses,repparttar 104135 roles are usually split, in an effort to ensure better governance ofrepparttar 104136 company, and in turn bring higher returns to investors.

Combiningrepparttar 104137 roles does have its advantages, such givingrepparttar 104138 CEO multiple perspectives onrepparttar 104139 company as a result of their multiple roles, and empowering them to act with determination. However, this allows for little transparency intorepparttar 104140 CEO’s acts, and as such their actions can go unmonitored, it pavesrepparttar 104141 way for scandal and corruption.

According to Ira Millstein, an expert in corporate governance, an effectively independent board is a shareholder’s best protection. Separatingrepparttar 104142 roles allowsrepparttar 104143 chair to check up onrepparttar 104144 CEO, and in turnrepparttar 104145 company’s overall performance, on behalf ofrepparttar 104146 stockholders.

Separatingrepparttar 104147 roles also allowsrepparttar 104148 CEO and chairman to focus on different, equally vital aspects ofrepparttar 104149 company’s performance.

“We think it is an appropriate segregation of duties. As a business grows,repparttar 104150 CEO can focus onrepparttar 104151 business andrepparttar 104152 chairman can help withrepparttar 104153 ever-growing regulatory requirements,” noted Lino P. Matteo, CEO forrepparttar 104154 Montreal-based management accounting firm Mount Real.

Ultimately, whenrepparttar 104155 chair does not also occupyrepparttar 104156 role of CEO, they are able to governrepparttar 104157 board in a more impartial manner, meaning that investor returns could potentially be higher.

However, a new survey by three consultants forrepparttar 104158 international management consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton found thatrepparttar 104159 companies that dividedrepparttar 104160 roles actually had smaller shareholder returns, leading some to rethinkrepparttar 104161 CEO-chairman split.

A survey by Christian & Timbers showed that 97% of European executives believe thatrepparttar 104162 roles should be split. However, stockholder returns were nearly 5% lower in European companies that implementedrepparttar 104163 split, when compared with companies that hadrepparttar 104164 same CEO and chairman.

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