Social and Cultural Barriers
Most businesspeople engaged in international trade under-estimate the importance of social and cultural differences, but these differences can derail an important transaction. For example, when Big Boy opened a restaurant in Bangkok, it quickly became popular with European and American tourists, but the local Thais to eat there. Instead, they placed gifts of rice and incense at the feet of the Big Boy statue (a chubby boy holding a hamburger) because it reminded them of Buddha. In Japan, customers tiptoed around a logo painted on the floor at the entrance to an Athlete's Foot store because in Japan it is considered taboo to step on a crest.23 And in Russia, consumers found the American-style energetic happiness of McDonald's employees insincere and offensive when the company opened its first stores there.24 Unfortunately, cultural norms are rarely written down, and what is written down may well be inaccurate.
Cultural differences include differences in spoken and written language. Although it is certainly possible to translate words from one language to another, the true meaning is sometimes misinterpreted or lost. Consider some translations that went awry in foreign markets:
Scandinavian vacuum manufacturer Electrolux used the following in an American campaign: -Nothing sucks like an Electrolux."
The Coca-Cola name in China was first read as "Ke-kou-ke-la," meaning "bite the wax tadpole."
In Italy, a campaign for Schweppes Tonic Water translated the name into Schweppes Toilet Water.25
Translators cannot just translate slogans, advertising campaigns, and website language; they must know the cultural differences that could affect a company's success.
Differences in body language and personal space also affect international trade. Body language is nonverbal, usually unconscious communication through gestures, posture and facial expression. Personal space is the distance at which one person feels comfortable talking to another. Americans tend to stand a moderate distance away from the person with whore they are speaking. Arab businessmen tend to stand face-to face with the object of their conversation. Additionally, gestures vary from culture to culture, and gestures considered acceptable in American society-pointing, for example-may, be considered rude in others. Some of the behaviors considered rude or unacceptable in other countries. Such cultural differences may generate uncomfortable (Whip or misunderstandings when businesspeople of different countries negotiate with each other.
Family roles also influence marketing activities. Many countries do not allow children to be used in advertising, for example advertising that features people in nontraditional social role may or may not be successful either. One airline featured advertisements with beautiful hostesses serving champagne on a flight. The ad does not seem unusual in Western markets, but there w. a major backlash in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia even considered restricting the airline from flights in that country. Not on is alcohol usage forbidden among Muslims, unveiled women I not allowed to interact with men-especially without their husbands around. Some in Saudi Arabia saw the airline as being insensitive to their religious beliefs and customs.26
The people of other nations quite often have a different perception of time as well. Americans value promptness; a business meeting schedule for a specific time seldom starts more than a few minutes late. In Mexico and Spain, however, it is not unusual for a meeting to be delayed half an hour or more. Such a late start might produce resentment in an American negotiating in Spain for the first time.
Companies engaged in foreign trade must observe the national and religious holidays and local customs of the host country. In many Islamic countries, for example, workers expect take a break at certain times of the day to observe religious rites. Companies also must monitor their advertising to guard against offending customers. In Thailand and many other countries, public displays of affection between the sexes are unacceptable in advertising messages; in many Middle Eastern nations, it is unacceptable to show the soles of one's feet.27 In Russia, smiling is considered appropriate only in private settings, not in business.
With the exception of the United States, most nations use the metric system. This lack of uniformity creates problems for lull buyers and sellers in the international marketplace. American sellers, for instance, must package goods destined for foreign markets in liters or meters, and Japanese sellers must convert to the English system if they plan to sell a product in the United States. Tools also must be calibrated in the correct system if they are to function correctly. Hyundai and Honda service technicians need metric tools to make repairs on those cars.
The literature dealing with international business is filled with accounts of sometimes humorous but often costly mistakes that occurred because of a lack of understanding of the social am cultural differences between buyers and sellers. Such problem cannot always be avoided, but they can be minimized through research on the cultural and social differences of the host country.