Tailoring Your Strategy To Fit The Cult
IIR026
DEEP
op yo rP os t
insight
GLOBAL MARKETING
tC
Tailoring Your Strategy to Fit the Culture
Do
No
W
IESEinsight
By MARIEKE DE MOOIJ
hen a company goes global, it often doesn’t realize that its strategy is a product of its own culture. Culture influences every aspect of a company’s strategy, whether at the corporate level or the product/ brand level. For this reason, companies cannot simply convert a national strategy into a global strategy without first understanding the various cultural dynamics at play.
In this article, I will discuss three aspects of global strategy: the company’s mission, vision and identity, brand strategies, and communications. Drawing upon Geert Hofstede’s dimensions of national culture (see Five Cultural Dimensions) and my own extensive research and consultancy work, I will consider the convergence and divergence of consumer
behavior across countries, in order to help managers better understand the relationship between culture and strategy. Recognizing the differences will lead to increased efficiency in a company’s global marketing effort and will ultimately condition the success of any multinational enterprise.
Mission, Vision & Corporate Identity
A crucial element in the strategic planning of any organization starts with its mission statement, an explicit formulation of what a company stands for, and linked to this, a vision statement indicating where the company wants to be in the future, sometimes expressed as its strategic intent. Mission and vision should give focus to everyone who is involved with the company, be it directly (employees) or indirectly (shareholders).
This document is authorized for use only by Nila Wiese at UNIVERSITY OF PUGET SOUND until May 2014.
ISSUE 5 SECOND QUARTER 2010
Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. Permissions@hbsp.harvard.edu or 617.783.7860.
23
THE POWER OF
GLOBAL
Canon’s corporate philosophy of kyosei. Apart from the collectivistic values such statements
DEEP
op yo rP os t
insight
GLOBAL MARKETING
tC
Tailoring Your Strategy to Fit the Culture
Do
No
W
IESEinsight
By MARIEKE DE MOOIJ
hen a company goes global, it often doesn’t realize that its strategy is a product of its own culture. Culture influences every aspect of a company’s strategy, whether at the corporate level or the product/ brand level. For this reason, companies cannot simply convert a national strategy into a global strategy without first understanding the various cultural dynamics at play.
In this article, I will discuss three aspects of global strategy: the company’s mission, vision and identity, brand strategies, and communications. Drawing upon Geert Hofstede’s dimensions of national culture (see Five Cultural Dimensions) and my own extensive research and consultancy work, I will consider the convergence and divergence of consumer
behavior across countries, in order to help managers better understand the relationship between culture and strategy. Recognizing the differences will lead to increased efficiency in a company’s global marketing effort and will ultimately condition the success of any multinational enterprise.
Mission, Vision & Corporate Identity
A crucial element in the strategic planning of any organization starts with its mission statement, an explicit formulation of what a company stands for, and linked to this, a vision statement indicating where the company wants to be in the future, sometimes expressed as its strategic intent. Mission and vision should give focus to everyone who is involved with the company, be it directly (employees) or indirectly (shareholders).
This document is authorized for use only by Nila Wiese at UNIVERSITY OF PUGET SOUND until May 2014.
ISSUE 5 SECOND QUARTER 2010
Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. Permissions@hbsp.harvard.edu or 617.783.7860.
23
THE POWER OF
GLOBAL
Canon’s corporate philosophy of kyosei. Apart from the collectivistic values such statements