How Can International Diversity Impact Your Business Operations?
Photo by Mitchell Luo on Unsplash
What is International Diversity?
As we all know, there are vast differences between different countries. These include differences in climate, economic development, demographics, technological development, infrastructure, and so on. Beyond these, there are cultural differences, such as differences in etiquette and values. These are rapidly changing due to factors such as technological development and globalisation. Some of these (such as differences in climate or infrastructure) may be easier to pinpoint. However, some (such as cultural differences) may be more difficult to discover. Think about differences in culture and etiquette: when many British people go abroad, they assume that people in the new country don’t queue because they are rude, rather than because queuing is a specifically British form of etiquette. This demonstrates that identifying cultural differences can be difficult, as it is natural to assume that one’s own culture is universal if it is all you have experienced. Nonetheless, all these differences can have an impact on an organisation’s operations and therefore need to be understood to ensure a successful expansion.How can this Impact Operations?
Say that you are a medium-sized business that is based in the UK and is looking to expand into the USA. Running from the UK, you are reliant on open banking to link your accounting software to your bank accounts, allowing you to automate some accounting work. However, you are surprised to discover that open banking isn’t a feature of most American bank accounts, and that you will therefore need to perform this manually. This makes it harder for your business to function in the US than in the UK.
Here, we can see how differences between countries (in this case, in technology and infrastructure) can cause problems for organisations. However, this problem isn’t likely to lead to a failed expansion as such banking differences are easy to discover (for example, through discussions with prospective banks). The major issue is when an organisation is unable to discover the differences between the two countries, or simply assumes that they are the same. As discussed above, cultural differences can be difficult to identify. However, they can still have a major impact on operations, especially interactions with customers: this 2021 article from the Boston Consulting Group provides an overview of their research into the cultural differences between eighteen different countries, giving examples of smaller cultural differences (such as the differing reasons why people snack) as well as looking at overall trends. One example that they gave was how French people usually focus on safety when deciding what car to buy, whilst Americans usually focus how the car is perceived. As this is a cultural difference, it is difficult to discover or quantify, meaning that organisations may be unable to take this into consideration. We could imagine a French car manufacturer being unable to work out why its safety-focused advertising campaign didn’t resonate with American audiences, as they assume that people will focus on the same things in different countries. This suggests that both more and less tangible differences can have major impacts on your organisation’s operations.
How Can {n}.bora Help?
As an organisation with clients all around the world, {n}.bora has extensive experience acting as a ‘bridge’ between various countries and cultures, ensuring that operations can adapt to specific locations. An example of this is in our project management, staff augmentation and interim leadership for an Indian technology firm. Through our work for our clients, we are able to provide them with the specific cultural knowledge that they need to manage their UK clients effectively. An example of this is using our knowledge of UK health infrastructure to help them to successfully integrate a healthcare app into this infrastructure.
Nonetheless, our cultural expertise isn’t limited to helping organisations work within UK culture. A Bulgarian ecommerce company requested our support in creating a Black Friday-based marketing campaign, encouraging its clients to use its services for their sales. However, as Black Friday is a relatively new idea in Bulgaria, this campaign involved advertising this idea as much as our client’s services. To successfully support them, we provided information about Black Friday that could be used to help advertise it to a new culture. This advertising campaign was successful, demonstrating that we have the geographical and cultural sensitivity to integrate operations into new countries.
Moving your operations to a new country can be tricky, not least because it can be difficult to know how it differs from where you are currently operating. If you are thinking of taking this leap, but are unsure of how to do it successfully, please get in touch with us and we would be more than happy to help you.
