The Impact of and Responses to Globalised Big Business on National and Regional Cultures - Coursework Example

The impact of and responses to globalised ‘Big Business’ on national and regional cultures Name Institution Course Tutor Date Introduction Globalization of ‘Big Business’ is where the big companies experience interchange in aspects associated with culture through national and regional operations. This is where the businesses encounter transmission of values, ideas, and meanings in the local and regional market, thus intensifying and extending their social relations. Globalization refers to process of integration associated with interchange of ideas, products, views, and cultures. Big business is the term representing the businesses that are run on large-scale financial activities. Different businesses have cultural differences, which they experience from national and regional locations and due to globalised operation. The intention of this discussion is to analyse literature about the impact of and responses to globalised ‘Big Business’ on national and regional cultures. There is also discussion of a number of impacts of and responses to globalised ‘Big Business’ on national and regional cultures. The discussion also looks at responses from some businesses about the impacts and comparison of two Australian organisations. 1. Literature Review Various sources have examined the impact of and responses to globalised Big Business on national and regional cultures. According to the argument put forth by Overbaugh (2013, 98), once the big businesses engage into the global business, they experience breakdown of the national and regional boundaries and easy movement of the culture values, ideas, and knowledge among other factors influencing production. Globalised big business makes sharing and interchanging of the national and regional cultures to face issues. The issues are associated with posing of the regional and national cultures. Manrai and Manrai (2011, 173) articulate that due to globalization of the businesses, the regional and national cultures stops being important to the consumers and the society because of diffusion of their culture and adaptation of different culture from the global business. Lai, He, Chou and Zhou (2013, 110) postulate that the big companies in the global business ignore the national and regional cultures, such as the traditional forms of doing things, which tend to be lost, for instance the way of doing music. The traditional instruments and much westernization of the national culture make the national way of doing business to be diffused. In addition, Overbaugh (2013, 98) articulates that the globalised big business lead to reduced widespread of the national language, thus making the languages spoken by the small communities to be less important and forcing the consumers to change their language of communication. ---- add that customer orientation, individualism, self-reliance, and long-term orientation influence brand management and cultural nuances. People from different cultural groups meet as they participate in the global business where the national and regional cultures and discarded and consumers forced to adapt the international cultures. Lai et al. (2013, 113) state that, employees to the globalised big businesses work through inheritance of the global cultural practices, which makes their national and regional cultures meaningless. The business advertisement and practices have also lost the national and regional sensitivities and linguistic impacts making hard for the managers to manage the business activities because of cultural globalization. 2. Types of impact that Big Business has had on culture, be it national or regional Globalised of ‘big business’ has had a range of impact on national and regional cultures. Three forms of impact are insufficient mastery of national languages, ‘Pop culture,’ and loss of national identities. It is evident that globalization is commonly known to cause great impact to the national and regional cultures and the society is forced to leave its cultural practices and adapt the cultural practices of the developed nations or big businesses (Matheus, 2014, 87). Insufficient mastery of national language is whereby the national community integrates with other communities in the global market, thus being influenced to adapt their languages. The big business faces the need of changing the language and adapts the foreign languages in their national operations. According to the argument put forth by Overbaugh (2013, 98), globalization of the business makes the society to exercise much use of the international language because customers and business dealers interact from different countries where they only need to use the national language to enhance communication and make business operations successful. ‘Pop Culture’ impact is the aspect where the national cultures lose taste and the business society is made to adjust to it. It is perceptible that globalization of the big businesses make all countries to operate in a similar manner where majority of the minor nations’ cultures are taken advantage of. Manrai and Manrai (2011, 177) articulate that American culture if the popular culture and it obliges people to practice similar life values, behaviours, and experiences. It is evident that widespread usage of the internet made majority of people to lose taste to their cultural practices, such as music and traditions and adapt the foreign music and traditions of the popular culture, which is highly influential (Ghemawat, &Reiche 2011, 24). Loss of national identities is an effect associated with the effect of globalization where national identities lose their importance and psychological significance. The society starts seeing the importance of the new identities, as people reject and disengage to their national identities. The big business makes the national society to forget whom they are and start adapting the identities of the foreign societies. National freedom become compromised people begin copying other people’s language, culture, and traditions (Lai, et al. 2013, 115). 3. Responses or approaches that can be used by businesses to overcome or deal with these forms of impact. Some large businesses have developed effective responses in an effort to minimise or reduce their negative impact on other cultures (Wang, Solan, & Xu, 2014, 95). Three of these responses or approaches involve human right approach for protection of national identities, retention of native cultures in other aspects beyond the business operations and embracement of the national languages in all aspects of life (Eisingerich, & Rubera, 2010, 71). Human right approach for protection of national identities is an approach whereby businesses allow their consumers to use the languages that they are free with and the ones they understand better. Businesses operate through workers who understand diverse language to be able to meet the interests and needs of their customers (Overbaugh, 2013, 98). In addition, businesses ensure that they produce goods and offer services that are fitting the cultural values and practices of their customers. Despite the introduction of technology, which influences the mode of doing business, national businesses ensure that despite doing business in the global market, there is respect to their national language, customs, and traditions. Retention of native cultures in other aspects beyond the business operations is an approach discussed by Škerlavaj, Su and Huang (2013, 112) that businesses ensure that they demonstrate their cultural competence. It is perceptible that businesses only adopt the global cultures in the business terms and aspects but workers and customers are left free to practice their cultural practices. The businesses continue with sale of products that are associated to the nation’s cultural values and practices. In addition, businesses operate through management practices that are related to the country’s national culture (Chun, 2012, 37). Embracement of the national languages in all aspects of life is another approach through which businesses train their employees to use diverse languages in order to communicate with diverse customers Manrai, & Manrai, 2011, 179). In addition, products and services are associated to different national and international languages, for instance, during conduct of advertisement, the adverts are prepared in different forms of languages. 4 Australian (or Australian-based) businesses that have developed and applied successful marketing strategies or responses in dealing with national or regional culture. Some large Australian or Australian-based businesses have developed and applied successful marketing strategies or responses in dealing with national or regional culture issues. Two of these are McDonalds and Toyota Australia. McDonalds ensure embracement of the cultural changes even in its top management and in its human resources. The company employs people from diverse cultural groups, gives them the freedom of enjoying their cultural language, and practices while still playing their roles (Church, 2014, 32). In addition, the company listens to issues raised by their consumers in relation to the offered foods and drinks; and their cultural practices. The company respects the Australian culture when preparing foods and drinks to be served in different events associated with the Australian culture. Additionally, the company has adopted itself to the local culture through consideration of consumer customs and values in its menu. In improvement of employees’ determination and morale, the company embraces provision of cultural knowledge where there is application of different language in the internal communication. Employee training also includes learning how to interact with customers and employees from different cultural groups. The respect of customers’ culture enhances the national acceptance of the company’s products. Toyota Australia is a company associated with sale of motor vehicles and automobile engines in Australia (Bhatia, Bhargava, 2014, 76). In manufacturing of the automobile engines, the company ensures that the products are manufactured in a manner that respects the Australian culture in order to offer customer satisfaction. In addition, the workforce of the company embraces cultural diversity since the company does not discriminate employees from different cultural groups. The company is served by workers from different cultural groups and during the worker training, cultural embracement is emphasized (d'Iribarne, 2012, 75). Moreover, employees are given the freedom to practice their cultural practices when in the company, which enhances healthy and quality work environment. Since the motor vehicles or the automobile engines are mostly known to be prestigious, the company ensures that Australian cultural practice associated with living a prestigious life is considered. Conclusion In conclusion, the globalised Big Business has impact of and responses to the national and regional cultures. According to the literature, the national and regional culture is highly influenced by globalization of the major businesses. This is where consumers and workers to those businesses are required to adapt the foreign and global cultural practices and ignore or discard their culture. Some of the impacts of globalization of bug business to the national and regional cultures are; loss of national identities, popular culture and insufficient mastery of national language. Apparently, the responses raised by businesses towards these impacts are; human right approach, embracement of national language, and retention of native cultures. Some of the Australian (or Australian-based) businesses that have developed and applied successful marketing strategies or responses in dealing with national or regional culture are McDonalds and Red Bull Gmbh. In this writer’s opinion, it is necessary for businesses to embrace and retain their national culture despite their globalization. It would also be essential for the companies to produce products that show their adoption of cultural diversity, employ workers from different cultural groups, and be positive about their cultural identities despite their global presence. References Bhatia, T K Bhargava, M 2014, ‘America’ in Indian Advertising: Change and Impact. Comparative American studies, Vol. 12 Nos. 1–2, June 2014, 71–83 Chun A 2012, The Americanization of pop culture in Asia? Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, Volume 13, Number 4, 2012 Church, N. F. 2014. Impact of culture on retail industry compliance. Journal of Business & Retail Management Research, 9(1). d'Iribarne, P. 2012. Managing corporate values in diverse national cultures: The challenge of differences (Vol. 19). London: Routledge. Eisingerich, A B & Rubera, G.2010, Drivers of Brand Commitment:A Cross-National Investigation. Journal of International Marketing. Vol. 18, No. 2, 2010, pp. 64–79 Ghemawat, P &Reiche S 2011, National Culture Difference and Multinational business. Retrieved from; http://www.aacsb.edu/~/media/AACSB/Publications/CDs%20and%20DVDs/GLOBE/readings/national-cultural-differences-and-multinational-business.ashx Howlett, B H M & Gray, M. 2015. The economic impact of the mining boom on Indigenous and non‑Indigenous Australian. Retrieved from; http://caepr.anu.edu.au/sites/default/files/Publications/WP/WP93_Hunter_Howlett_Gray_Mining.pdf Lai, J., He, P., Chou, H. M., & Zhou, L. 2013. Impact of national culture on online consumer review behavior. Global Journal of Business Research, 7(1), 109-115. Manrai, L. A., & Manrai, A. K. 2011. 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