Share an example of unsuccessful intercultural or cross-cultural communication in your workplace. If you do not have a personal

3 Embarrassing Examples of Cross-Cultural Business Failures

Maybe you’ve seen this scene before while on vacation. It usually goes something like this: a frustrated tourist tries to communicate with a local that doesn’t speak a word of English. The tourist, baffled by the lack of comprehension from the local, simply speaks English LOUDER and sloooower. The same words are repeated, over and over again. Of course, this doesn’t help with communication at all. Both the tourist and the local end up exasperated.

Anthony Karge Published Oct 10, 2018

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Anthony Karge

It’s a ridiculous but fairly common scene. As silly as these exchange are, similar misunderstandings and miscommunication happen on a massive scale in the business world. Some companies, lead by the best and brightest leaders, flush away billions of dollars due to complete cross-cultural failures.

These following stories show why it’s critical to understand your customers and business partners in other parts of the world. Failing to do so leads to disaster. These examples go beyond mere mistranslations and insensitive advertisements. Rather, they reveal deep-rooted flaws that stem from a profound lack of cross-cultural understanding.

Wal-Mart in Germany: A Company Culture That Didn’t Fit

Wal-Mart’s expansion in Germany was nothing short of a disaster. Almost a decade after launching in Germany, Wal-Mart couldn’t find anyone willing to pay a cent for its assets. Due to the high costs of laying off workers in Germany, Wal-Mart essentially paid a competitor in 2006 to take over its real estate and employee liabilities.

How did Wal-Mart, who enjoyed so much success in the US, China, and other countries, get to that point? By failing to understand the culture of their employees and their customers. Here are a few places where Wal-Mart dropped the ball, according to my German colleagues who shopped at the store.

Germans don’t like – or at least aren’t very used to – very friendly customer service. Having a greeter at the entrance was unsettling. Having staff smile at customers was also strange–some male shoppers thought female employees were flirting with them.

Team spirit is a big part of American Wal-Mart stores, with team members doing a morning chant to motivate everyone for the rest of the day. Chanting in Germany is best suited for soccer matches and nowhere else, so there were reports of employees hiding in the bathroom in horror to avoid the morning chant.

Anthony Karge

Even in higher-end German grocery stores, it’s customary for shoppers to bag their own groceries. No shopper wants somebody else touching their groceries after paying. Having Wal-Mart cashiers bag the groceries themselves was considered a big no-no.

All those things came together to create an uncomfortable atmosphere for both employees and customers. Of course, there were problems beyond the culture misunderstandings. Wal-Mart simply wasn’t as competitive on pricing compared to long-established German discounters like Aldi. Still, syncing with German culture would have helped as they tried to build the brand within the country.

General Mills’ Cake Mix in Japan: A Breakdown in Market Research

General Mills was ready to succeed in Japan in the 1960s. Their line of pre-packaged cake mixes was a huge hit in the US, where customers valued the convenience of needing just water, eggs, and the mix to produce a cake. Surely, that convenience would be appreciated by busy Japanese customers. Cake might not be as ingrained into Japanese culture as in the US, but there still seemed to be a strong market opportunity. What could go wrong?

The product launch was a complete failure, and it had nothing to do with whether Japanese consumers liked cake or not. The reason for the failure was glaringly obvious after the fact: just 3 percent of Japanese homes at the time had an oven. Realizing their market research problem, General Mills repurposed the cake mix to work in the much more common rice cookers. That never really caught on, so General Mills withdrew their cake mixes from the market.

Fast Food in China: How McDonald’s Lost to KFC

No fast food company does international expansion as well as McDonald’s. Meanwhile, competitor KFC always lagged behind the Golden Arches, especially in Asia. When China opened up its borders to international companies in the late 1980s, it would have been safe to bet that McDonald’s would continue its dominance.

Anthony Karge

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That never happened, however. Today, McDonald’s has half the presence that KFC does when it comes to total stores, while losing out to KFC in revenue per store and margin. There are a number of reasons for KFC’s success, such as being first to the market, building a strong supply chain, and deploying a more strategic expansion plan. However, a big reason for KFC’s success is that it adapted to the local culture while McDonald’s initially refused to cater to the tastes of Chinese customers.

McDonald’s had great success with its line of American-style burgers when expanded to Japan and other Asian countries. They stubbornly decided to roll out the same line of product that worked in nearby countries. The difference between those countries and China is that the latter had no frame of reference for burgers. The country was closed of for so long that burgers seemed too strange and fore. KFC, meanwhile, had the advantage of offering fried chicken, which is a familiar food for people in China. They also took active steps to localize their menus for the Chinese market, and their wildly successful breakfast menu featuring staples like congee is a testament to their localization efforts.

McDonald’s has since learned from its mistakes and and enjoys a strong position in China’s fast food market. But due to their botched rollout, they’re still a lagging competitor to KFC’s market position. A little localization goes a long way, especially when it’s done correctly from the start.

Lessons Learned

Even the biggest budgets and past international success doesn’t guarantee future results when breaking into a new market. A sense of a hubris, however, guarantees failure. As McDonald’s, Wal-Mart, and General Mills learned, it helps to have local experience and a full understanding of the new markets.

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COM 2301, Professional Communication 1

Course Learning Outcomes for Unit III Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:

2. Develop communication strategies for various cross-cultural workplaces. 2.1 Develop a communication strategy for bridging cultural diversity in the workplace.

5. Analyze workplace situations for successful professional communication with diverse audiences.

5.1 Discuss inclusion and diversity in workplace communication.

6. Illustrate appropriate problem-solving skills for effective professional communication. 6.1 Describe tools to achieve successful intercultural or cross-cultural communication.

Course/Unit

Learning Outcomes Learning Activity

2.1

Unit Lesson Article: “Small Businesses Can Commit to Diversity, Too” Article: “Ethiopia: Communication in a Multicultural Country” Unit III Assignment

5.1

Unit Lesson Video: TEDTalks: Janet Stovall—How to Get Serious about Diversity and

Inclusion in the Workplace Article: “We’re Talking About Racism. We Never Talked About This Before” Unit III Assignment

6.1

Unit Lesson Article: “Q&A: We Were Not Interested in Creating Programs, but More of a

Culture Change Strategy” Article: “A Lifetime Work: Strategies for Successful Diversity, Equity, Inclusion” Article: “The Need for Cross-Cultural Communication Instruction in U.S.

Business Communication Courses” Unit III Assignment

Required Unit Resources In order to access the following resources, click the links below. Video The transcript for this video can be found by clicking the “Transcript” tab to the right of the video in the Films on Demand database. TED (Producer). (2018). TED Talks: Janet Stovall–How to get serious about diversity and inclusion in the

workplace [Video]. Films on Demand. https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?auth=CAS&url=https://fod.infobase.com/PortalPl aylists.aspx?wID=273866&xtid=209793

Articles Abrams, R. (2021, January 14). Small businesses can commit to diversity, too. USA Today, 03B.

https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A648352790/AONE?u=oran95108&sid=bookmark- AONE&xid=650d9f92

UNIT III STUDY GUIDE Intercultural/Cross-Cultural Communication in a Global Workplace

COM 2301, Professional Communication 2

UNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title

Agovino, T. (2020, Fall). 'We're talking about racism. We never talked about this before.'. HRMagazine, 65(3), 32. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A636516445/ITOF?u=oran95108&sid=bookmark- ITOF&xid=9cba94b3

Chandler, N. (Ed.). (2020, December 16). A lifetime work: Strategies for successful diversity, equity, inclusion.

New Orleans CityBusiness. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A646123104/ITOF?u=oran95108&sid=ITOF&xid=bb6b0e08

Minas, G. (2021, May 18). Ethiopia: Communication in a multicultural country. The Ethiopian Herald.

https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A662123185/STND?u=oran95108&sid=STND&xid=39049e41 Smallwood, M. G. (2020). The need for cross-cultural communication instruction in U.S. business

communication courses. Business and Professional Communication Quarterly, 83(2), 133–152. https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?dire ct=true&db=bsu&AN=143231511&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Weinstock, M. (2021, February 15). Q&A: We were not interested in creating programs, but more of a culture

change strategy. Modern Healthcare, 51(7). https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A652224621/ITOF?u=oran95108&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=66f155e6

Unit Lesson

Overview In this unit, our focus is how we can successfully communicate across cultures as well as why the foundation for diversity in the workplace is communication.

COM 2301, Professional Communication 3

UNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title

Culture Defined

As the diagram above indicates, many factors define culture. Culture can comprise a person’s religion, race, age, nationality, socio-economic status, education, generation, sexual orientation, ethnicity, and gender. All of these factors can create noise, thus, creating conflict. Here are a few examples. One day your supervisor introduces a new employee, and that new employee is the only male at your workplace. As a customer have you ever felt ignored because of your race? How does your age cause noise when communicating with your team leader who is significantly older or younger than you? How can we communicate when all these cultural factors, in effect, stream static through communication channels to prevent a clear message from reaching a receiver?

Cross-Cultural/Intercultural Communication Defined Cross-cultural or intercultural communication can be challenging to define. The simplest definition is communication between us and others unlike us. We may be from a different country, speak a different language, or practice a different religion. This can create noise. Silencing the static of culture within our communication begins with an understanding that culture is an engrained part of who we are—all factors that define culture. How then can we separate these factors when we communicate? We cannot. What we can do is learn how to communicate across cultures.

Communicating Across Cultures Our previous units discussed communication tools that can be used to decrease conflict. Culture is a noisemaker; thus, culture can and will cause conflict. The tools already learned can help us communicate across cultures. Let’s review these tools. Active listening can be defined as paying attention, then asking questions.

COM 2301, Professional Communication 4

UNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title

Perception checking includes active listening in its three-step process:

Step 1: Description: Description of noticed behavior Step 2: Interpretation: Two possible interpretations of the noticed behavior Step 3: Clarification: Asking a question While these two tools are important to the communication process, they are not the only tools that can help us build a bridge to communicate across cultures.

Empathy: A Bridge to Cross Cultures Empathy, unlike sympathy, focuses on the understanding of each other’s feelings even if we do not share those feelings. We often confuse these concepts and offer the message I’m sorry when we really mean to say, I understand. For example, your coworker is nervous because they are about to present a new training method. You are not part of this presentation, so you do not feel nervous (what they feel), but you understand why your coworker is nervous. Thus, your message to your coworker would be empathetic: I understand, not the sympathetic, I’m sorry.

(Pressmaster, n.d.)

Successful communication across cultures also relies on empathy. One way to approach communication is to think about communication across cultures as a network (Minas, 2021).

COM 2301, Professional Communication 5

UNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title

If the network fails, then the message sent cannot cross a channel to the receiver and all communication ends. Successfully networking across cultures relies on communication. Using tools such as active listening, perception checking, and empathy will help us successfully communicate across cultures. For example, imagine being introduced to a new coworker, Jackson. You notice that Jackson smiles but only mumbles a shy “hello” and head nod. Your first impression is that Jackson may be another coworker who hides in their office or the coworker who says nothing at meetings. With your busy work schedule and projects, you decide to not take the time to formally introduce yourself to Jackson. At lunch, you see Jackson smiling and laughing with another coworker as they speak together in a foreign language. What if you applied perception checking and empathy before making a judgement about Jackson? Perhaps Jackson’s shyness was first day on the job jitters as well as a language barrier? Could you have understood Jackson’s jitters by remembering your first day on the job?

Diversity and Communication in the Workplace

A diverse workplace benefits the workplace and communication.

(Monkey Business Images, n.d.) Communication can ensure a workplace’s success or failure; however, what if messages being sent come from the same type of receiver? Feeling included in this workplace would be difficult. Whether you are the only female, the only Latinx. African American, or Asian, or the only member of LGBTQ+ community, being the only one of a specific culture within the dominant workplace culture can be challenging in and of itself. Now, imagine being the only one and trying to communicate with the majority. Not having a cultural connection in the workplace can stop communication before it can even begin. Chandler (2020) suggests that diversity in the workplace means that employees see no obstacles in bringing their full selves to work. Therefore, each employee feels included and respected. When we feel this way, our communication across cultures grows. Having a homogenous workplace may not only negatively impact its employees, but also negatively impact the business itself. If customers or clients are unable to see themselves in the business’ identity, then they may question if they belong or if they should continue to be customers or clients. Abrams (2021) notes that a diverse workplace not only benefits the employees but also the company or business. Customers and clients feel included when they see the company respect and welcome all cultures. In turn, the company or business grows.

COM 2301, Professional Communication 6

UNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title

Although workplace diversity is beneficial for the employees and the business itself, the challenge is how to strive for and talk about diversity. Agovino (2020) suggests that recent current events have opened previously closed communication doors. Agovina (2020) further suggests the death of George Floyd and the messages of Black Lives Matter forced racism to now be openly discussed in the workplace. Moreover, listening to all cultures’ stories will then lead to more understanding and empathy by the majority culture that can then lead to more inclusion and diversity. To learn more about diversity and inclusion in the workplace, watch the video TEDTalks: Janet Stovall—How to Get Serious About Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace. The transcript for this video can be found by clicking the “Transcript” tab to the right

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