The adjustment to a new culture may not be easy, but it can lead to some great growth. In addition, adapting can make working spaces more engaging across cultures and more collaboration across geography.
The more companies recognize the importance of cultural awareness when doing international expansion, the more successful they are. McDonald’s India for example – they made their menu cater to the local palate and won a big share of the market.
Understanding the Market
All be it in global marketplaces, where directness and result-oriented behaviours might seem good to one society but jerkish or aggressive to another. KFC’s first marketing disaster in China (its slogan “Finger-Lickin’ Good” was misunderstanding to “Eat Your Fingers Off”) exemplifies this point well. Trustful relationships with customers at a local level, cultural awareness training of employees, pilot testing of marketing messages in the market, collaboration with local businesses and collaborations between businesses are all important elements.
There is also research that shows that companies that pay attention to cultural adaptation do better in the market than competitors. Using the likes of Geert Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Theory to better understand consumers and their local cultures and values can help companies tackle such hurdles in the right way — whether that be McDonald’s menu customization in India and Singapore, or Coca-Cola’s Day of the Dead celebration in Mexico. Relating to local customs and customs can build brand affinity–and that’s how McDonald’s success has come from not just menu customization in these countries, but also Coca-Cola celebrating Day of the Dead in Mexico!
Adapting Your Product Offerings
Businesses should be adapting the product and the features of the product to the local market, as part of their new product strategy for new products launch. This could include reworking colors, forms, sizes, packaging or capabilities to better match local styles or preferences; and tailoring pricing based on incomes or purchasing power and any other particular physical constraints, such as weather or location, that would require them to adapt products for use in the locale.
Companies need to adapt marketing materials and messaging to local cultures of their consumers, by including national festivals or traditions in branding materials, or using localised phrasing in advertisements.
Training in cultural intelligence, local liaisons, and evaluation of marketing materials in home markets are all necessary steps to maximizing international expansion. Making cultural adaptation a permanent part of the work can allow multinational corporations to not only secure long-term customer relationships, but also brand itself throughout the world.
Adapting Your Marketing Messages
Going global means including local wisdom and cultural adaptation, from the content of your marketing message to reflect local values to adapting it to the language and manner of speaking in local markets. It should also consider culture if it wants to be successful in international markets and what work/family dynamic is different, office decor and what employees are expected to expect in the workplace.
Coca-Cola did this in Mexico, rebranding and packaging to match Mexican palates and culture, and capturing 25% of market share in Mexico.
Businesses that can adapt their messaging and products to local customer needs can connect better with customers and gain greater brand loyalty for better business outcomes. An adaptive office culture will encourage employees to be culturally flexible by adapting quickly and effectively to changing conditions; and an adaptive office culture can enhance collaboration, employee satisfaction and reduce cross-cultural conflict.
Building Relationships
When businesses spend on cultural adaption, they can cultivate relationships with their customers overseas, and gain customer bases and therefore sell more.
Companies must learn that culture differences can ruin your outcomes like when Target was unsuccessful in Canada because they had no knowledge of the local culture and habits.
Target duped Canadians by stocking its stores with US-made merchandise without considering Canadian customers, displacing a lot of Canadians and leaving the company $2 billion in debt, before eventually shuttering the stores. It’s not enough to ignore culture adaptation: companies should hire local cultural intermediaries to get messages and products to the locals. Employing Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Theory will also help companies understand local markets better, such as Starbucks when it went into China and discovered its customers eat in groups rather than alone. Starbucks caught on, too, and modified their store layouts and menus accordingly – to explosive success in China.