Cross-Cultural Marketing: Taking the Time to Communicate Differently
By
Dr. Bennie J. Wilson III
(Published in "International Trade Times," September 7, 2003)
Poor and inflexible communication not only leads to festering personal animosities among friends and family members alike, it has sunk many a well-planned, well-capitalized small business. Whether you are selling yourself or marketing a service or product, effective communication is far from being a simple, intuitive process. What do relationships and profits have in common? They both depend on how well we communicate with people other than ourselves.
How many of us are in situations where we just cannot communicate well with a person very close to us; for example, our mother? Mom and I used to have the hardest time being civil to each other during simple telephone conversations. No matter what I said, she would perceive some slight on my part and the conversation would inevitably end on an unceremoniously negative note. Two people who love each other dearly just could not communicate well. It was only later that I found out that I was too wrapped up in myself and in my own view of the world and I simply failed to appreciate mom’s perspective. This didn't mean that I have to agree with everything she said; it meant only that it was my responsibility to understand her cultural orientation—the same cultural orientation that contributed to her world view.
I'll get back to this point later. Let's first put the implications of communication failure in a business-oriented context. A recent guest lecturer in my class on Business Communication and Professional Development, who will go nameless, was sharing his business experiences with university students, relating his philosophies on attitudes, skills, and experiences necessary for success in the real world of professional work. This self-made entrepreneur had built a small business from the ground up and into a leading member of the San Antonio business community. While sharing some of his frustrations on the way to business success he allowed as how he just could not do business in Mexico. They do things "differently;" they just do not do business "our way."
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Yes, this is the Mexico that is not only a member of NAFTA, it is the same Mexico that represents one of the largest markets in the world for American goods and services. A tremendously successful businessman gave up on this huge, multibillion-dollar market—a market that is right next door—because "they" just do not do business "our way." His observation was correct; his reaction to it did not reflect his otherwise tremendous business savvy.
Which brings me back to my relationship with my mom. Why were mom and I not able to enjoy our priceless love and respect for each other? The answer turned out to be very simple; I was communicating with her as if she and I shared the same experiences and had the same outlook on the world around us. I failed to account for the fact that, although she and dad raised me toward shared values and common goals, her life was taking place in a different context than was my life. The result was that, while she and I both spoke the same language and shared a lot of the same background and aspirations, we mistakenly communicated as if each of us shared the other's time and space. Once I appreciated the error of this orientation, mom and I found a new, more rewarding relationship that is essentially devoid of acrimonious repartee. In short, we don't argue anymore.
Let me share another personal experience. While stationed in the Republic of South Korea as a senior US military officer I was in charge of all human resource functions affecting American troops and their family members living in country. Part of my duties included making sure that these troops and their loved ones did not violate South Korea's import laws by selling duty-free American goods on the black-market. It was an important job and every few months I would meet with South Korea's equivalent to our Under Secretary of Commerce, the Deputy Minister in charge of import-export activities, to discuss our coordinated anti-black-marketing initiatives.
I recall my first appointment with the Deputy Minister. Being the efficient military officer that I was I blocked two hours on my calendar, starting at 8:30 a.m. This would allow me plenty of time to travel through the heavy traffic of Seoul to the Ministry, arriving five to 10 minutes early for my 9:00 a.m. appointment, spending up to an hour with the Deputy Minister, and returning safely to my office with plenty of time to spare for my 11:00 a.m. appointment with my boss, the Chief of Staff of US Forces Korea.
Wrong! "They" don't do business "our way" in South Korea. To make a long story short, the Deputy Minister greeted me effusively at 9:45 a.m.—no regrets for the late start. We spent the next two hours talking about everything except black-marketing—we talked about interesting places to sightsee in our two countries, we talked about our families and our hobbies (lots of golf stories), and we drank lots of coffee and nibbled on light snacks. Then, the Deputy Minister and I had lunch, where we talked some more, about everything except black-marketing. After lunch—and a little libation—we returned to the Ministry and discussed, finally, black-marketing.
The meeting was a success, even though I had plenty of explaining to do to my boss upon my return. Over the next two years of my assignment in South Korea, the level of cooperation and productivity of joint operations between the Ministry and my office were the best they had been in years. I never again blocked off two hours on my calendar when meeting with my South Korean counterparts.
Okay, so what's the point?
The point is that I tried to communicate with my mom from Bennie Wilson's point of view. The successful businessman who can't do business with Mexico sees the world through American-tinted glasses. And the South Korean ministry official and I were only successful once I appreciated the fact that doing business "differently" was not the same as not doing business at all.
People who are successful in conducting business in an international environment, or even in a multicultural indigenous environment, recognize that effective communication can only take place when the parties involved appreciate the different cultural contexts in which it takes place. Trying to do business in an American context but in a non-American culture is a sure ticket to business failure. And for those of us who believe that there is no such thing as an American culture, all you need do is ask a foreigner. Most foreigners can pick an American out of a crowd at a hundred paces, blindfolded, in the dark! Believe me, there is an American culture—we generally have values and beliefs that dictate our behaviors. This is particularly true in a business context.
Businesspeople who are very successful at cross-cultural communication share several key attributes. One of the more important of these is the awareness that their values and behaviors are not always the “right” values and behaviors to others. Does this mean that whenever we do business with someone who has different values, we must change our values to communicate effectively with them? Absolutely not, but it usually does mean we must accept, or at a minimum, tolerate the values of others. Does it mean that we must change some of our behaviors for business success internationally? Yes, it often does, particularly with respect to such American compulsions regarding timeliness, contractual agreement, business conversation, deference to position, and the like.
Another characteristic of successful cross-cultural businesspeople is their sensitivity to the fact that people within a culture are themselves different from each other. Let's face it, many of us believe, for example, that all Hispanics are alike, or that all New Yorkers are the same. As individualistic as we Americans like to think of ourselves, we still tend to treat "foreigners" as homogeneous groups.
There are other attributes of successful businessmen and women in the international arena, but you get the idea. In some cultures entrepreneurs and executives are not as obsessed with being as direct and explicit as we Americans tend to be. Moreover, other cultures value knowing the person with whom they are dealing just as much as they value the deal itself, sometimes more.
Failure to recognize these concepts can taint the loving relationship between a mother and her son, or can lead successful businessmen and women to miss out on multibillion-dollar deals. Successful international business may be more than just being successful at cross-cultural communication, but it’s not much more. It certainly is not a simple, intuitive process. Rather, it demands a lot of homework and a lot of patience. Turning a profit and increasing the return on our investment in international environments and in diverse national venues require turning cultural and individual differences into economic advantages.
- Bennie J. Wilson III, Ed. D., UTSA College of Business Assistant Dean
Dr. Bennie J. Wilson III is Assistant Dean of the College of Business and Senior Lecturer in Management at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). He is also Chairman of the San Antonio Commission on Literacy. A native of San Antonio, Texas, he served 30 years in the U.S. Air Force, culminating his military career in the rank of colonel. Dr Wilson earned his doctorate in education administration at Auburn University, his MBA at the William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Rochester, and his Bachelor's degree in business at San Jose State University.