Cultural barriers and how companies resolve this problem

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Hello and thank you for using Brainmass. The solution below should get you started. In order to answer the issue of cultural barriers and approaches used by other companies to resolve this problem, I have looked into a former research and essay I have undertaken and written.

Cultural Barrier Concerns

Plastics Company ADAX headed by its President, Jerry is planning to expand its business into the stable European Market and the emerging and growing Asian Market (potentially China and the developing economies of Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines). While expanding to Europe might not be much of a concern due to the similarities in culture and corporate philosophies and standards with America, expanding to Asia is a great concern due to the differences brought about by socio-cultural elements like language, perspectives, and belief systems. The shared history with Europe helps too, with European culture being the seed culture that brought about the amalgamation that became the beginnings of the American culture; it is easy enough to identify with the practices of the Europeans from language to social etiquette. ADAX is a quintessentially American company, serving the American market in the Midwest. As such, while it provides for multicultural cities and communities, and its clients practice diversity within their own ranks (just as ADAX is doing), the policies in place are in accordance with the EEOC and, since the company's operations within the US are regulated, the company is protected just as their clients are. Hence, a balance is maintained that, in spite of cultural barriers in a growing multicultural America, ADAX can grow as a plastics provider without worrying much about cultural barriers.

But, market growth can be achieved by joining new markets as the US market has become saturated with so many players. Companies in the American market can, at best, maintain market share at the smallest level of growth. Germany's economy, on the other hand, has just recently been announced to have grown at 2.2. % despite the recession while China, Indonesia & India, for example, reported record levels of growth no less than 7% per annum. With the need to penetrate the market obvious, what can be the best strategies to employ to avoid conflict and failure due to cultural differences? The experience, perhaps of logistics companies like DHL and FedEx as well as multinationals like Unilever, PepsiCo and Coca Cola Company can best be viewed as for profit corporate expansion examples that have resulted to success. Take for example this experience of FedEx in Thailand (Jones, 2009):

'With FedEx presence all over the globe just beginning in the early 80's, the FedEx Corporate perspective is distinctively American. When they established a presence in the third world - FedEx was surprised and found it difficult to adjust and get along with the demands and the culture of the markets they wanted to reach. In Thailand for example, FedEx instilled an American executive management who was tasked to oversee the ...