Cultural Theories and Global Development

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Introduction

A cultural theory is a term used to describe the unique and varied efforts used to conceptualise a greater understanding of cultural dynamics. Ait involves the manner in which culture relates with nature and the society in general. Different people are responsible for the cultural transformation of their respective societies. In Britain for instance, Raymond Williams and E.P Thompson were very influential in their current culture (Urip, 2010).

After the end of the Second World War there was a global peace and the focus was shifted from war to cultural stability. The cultural practices by a great margin determine the processes in the business and societal systems. The decade between 1970-1980, there was a closer examination of how rapid Japan rose from ashes to become a great nation over a short time (Adair & Brett, 2005). The current global trend is now focusing on China, a country whose economic prosperity is fast growing. The bombing of the world trade centre in 2001 led to the emergence of a critical re-examination and re-evaluation of the world cultures (Coombs & Holladay, 2012). The rise of globalisation has resulted to a closer look at the constraints and limitations of some cultures together with their effects on business and commercial systems. Cultural differences enhance a holistic view during negotiations that in the long run result to cooperation and even competition.

Transactional negotiations that link up competitive and cooperative behaviours are divided into four sections which are relational positioning, classification of the problem, examining of possible solutions then lastly finding a solution.

The negotiation theory not only does promote cooperation but it also promotes problem solving. Personal value, trust and authority are promoted. Proper understanding of those a negotiator represents is critical in knowing what are the priorities of the people he/ she represent. If the subjects have a contrary opinion to that of the negotiator then the rule of the people works here. The desires and wishes of many have to be considered first. Negotiators have to frequently negotiate with those they represent to ensure that their demands are met. This is done to reduce incidences where the subject’s needs and requirements are met in the best manner possible.

Good negotiation skills can be critical especially for cooperates that need to market their brands in new markets (Adair & Brett, 2005). Good negotiators will convince the consumers in the new market that the products they are going to consume are of high quality and they are being offered at the correct prices that are affordable. Negotiators too are essential in peace making talks and preventing of conflicts and wars. Good negotiators are a great in advertising the company’s brand and promote their products and increase their products reach to the consumers. In most parts of the world conflicts between nations or communities within a country may arise. The presence of negotiators may help cool down the building and rising anger among their subjects. Peace talks are agreed with the best interests of the conflicting parties taking centre stage. Compromising of stands is important during peace negotiations. The hard stands are compromised to accommodate each other’s interests.

The Hofstede model that focuses on branding and advertisement strategies is influences people’s cultures and consumers perception of the brand (De Mooij & Hofstede, 2010). The model expounds the variations in the concepts relating to self, personality and identity. It helps in developing the interpersonal systems of mass communication and the manner in which the advertisement is to be done (De Mooij & Hofstede, 2010). The study of human behaviour takes centre stage when identifying and evaluating the best manner in which the brand can be designed to fit to the culture, habits and believes of the targeted population. The advertisement of the brand should cut across all the cultures of the targeted state or nation. Proper designing of the global brand image and proper skill in strategizing are critical in benchmarking the market performance of the brand both at local and global markets.

The target population cultural values and the manner in which they interact with their environment by a big margin determine the type of advertisement that should be adopted (De Mooij & Hofstede, 2010). Through defining patterns of cultural models, basic problems affecting people are identified. The model ranks countries on the basis of power distance, masculinity/ femininity, avoiding uncertainty, collectivism/ individualism as well as short or long term orientation. The scale is between 0- 100 and these factors help determine the advertisement strategy to be used based on the county’s rank (De Mooij & Hofstede, 2010). A brand should be designed to be able to relevant and marketable to the target market both on short term and long term basis. Understanding the growth and transformation of children during their development is a boost in the understanding of collectivistic model. The child in USA and China show a variation in their early childhood transformation and growth.

On the other hand the excitement and joy perception also varies because in the USA for instance, happiness and joy is associated with pride and superiority whereas in Far East countries such as Japan feeling good is determined by friendship (De Mooij & Hofstede, 2010). The models portrays that collectivists are relationship oriented whereas individualists value and categorise their objects on the basis of rules and properties. Proper understanding of the subject’s believes and cultures bring an expansive understanding of the Hofstede model (Agarwal, 2008).

Trust is questionable notion. Humans are created in a manner that they embrace sharing. Language, trust, a sense of belonging and identification are among the common virtues shared. Trust transforms the creating of proper and healthy competitions, while at the same time create a good and favourable environment for teamwork. Lack of trust may result to a non-functional organisation which in due process, fails to reach its intended goals. The British Airways are an example of a company that was transformed from an underperforming company to an excelling global brand. Sir Colin Marshall who was then the head had a vision of making a tragic transformation and making the company a success (De Mooij & Hofstede, 2010).. Proper motivation, understanding and dedication of the workers motivated them to work towards achieving Sir Colin’s dream. While at first the dream seemed unachievable their determination helped them move a milestone.

Steve Miller, the onetime head of Royal Dutch/ Shell Group enrolled for a program that would help him explore, identify and be opportunistic of the global market he created a team of 6-8 persons to make the dream a reality. He assured his staff that they would get financial support only if they worked extra hard to achieve their director’s dream. A frequent assessment and identification of success and failure was essential in improving the workers accountability and delivery. The running and exploring and venturing of markets in the world require that the director should be well devoted and motivate his/ her staff. Accountability and frequent assessment of the workers’ performance enhances efficiency and a further increase in the profit margin while the operational cost is also reduced (Coombs & Holladay, 2012).

The corporate social responsibility (CSR) has three approaches which all are centred around profit making. Businesses are viewed to hold a range of both economic and civil responsibilities during their operations (Adair & Brett, 2005). The theoretical approaches to these responsibilities are the corporate social responsibility, triple bottom line and the stakeholder theory (Agarwal, 2008).

The corporate social responsibility theory focuses on making money with the interaction with the community also included. The second perspective is profit making while putting into consideration the community’s welfare (Schwartz, el al 2007). The CSR is further obligated into four parts which are the economic responsibility, legal, ethical and philanthropic responsibilities. The four responsibilities interlink and relate to each other. The responsibilities provide a guide on the manner in which firms can survive a decline and still fulfil their economic obligations.

The triple bottom line dictates the manner in which corporate leaders should tabulate their results on the basis of costs versus revenue (Coombs & Holladay, 2012). The three columns concerning responsibility should be separately kept and with results being reported independently while the second part requires the company to obtain sustainable results. Economic sustainability in this context means long term business planning and investment. Social sustainability on the other hand aims at striking a balance between how people live and interact with one another. This system aims at bridging the gap between the exceedingly rich and the poor.

Conversely, environmental sustainability is centred on the sustainable use of resources with the goal of ensuring that the future generations also utilise the resources we use at present (Schwartz, el al 2007).

The stakeholder theory was described by Edward Freeman on the basis of corporate social responsibility. The theory describes the kinds of businesses and organisations that may be affected by the business’ plans and ambitions. The collective bottom line outlines the consequences that may face the company’s major stakeholders.

Conclusion

Various aspects of everyday life enhance our ethical and cultural behaviours. While many commercial companies would like to explore and conquer new markets than their competitors, proper strategy and implementation of good planning are key in winning the confidence of the target market (Agarwal, 2008). In this case, companies employ the use of good negotiators who play a big role in popularising and marketing the brand. A distinct and unique brand automatically becomes appealing to the consumers (Schwartz, el al 2007).

Planning on short and long term basis ensure that both short term and long term goals are achieved. Proper management strategies are also and good leadership are important in transformation of a company from underperforming to a great global commercial brand. An example is the manner in which people like Sir Colin Marshall transformed the British Airways from an underperforming airline to one of the world greatest airlines. Another example is how Steve Miller, motivated his workers at the Shell company and they cooperatively worked to make Royal Dutch/ Shell Group a global commercial brand (Urip, 2010).

The corporate social responsibility (CSR) on the other hand works to interlink all forms of sustainability ranging from economic, social and environmental are achieved (Agarwal, 2008). It also ensures that the stakeholders’ theories and collective bottom line are achieved. The responsibilities are divided into the triple bottom line, stakeholder theory and lastly corporate social responsibility (CSR).

References

Adair, W.L., & Brett, J.M. (2005). The negotiation dance: time, culture, and behavioural

sequences in negotiation. Organization Science, 16(1), 33-51.

De Mooij, M., & Hofstede, G. (2010). The Hofstede model: Applications to global branding

and advertising strategy and research. International Journal of Advertising, 29(1), 85–110.

Schwartz, S. J., Zamboanga, B.L., Rodriguez, L., & Wang, S.C. (2007). The structure of

cultural identity in and ethnically diverse sample of emerging adults. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 29(2), 159-173.

Javidan, M,. Dorfman, P. W., Sully de Luque, M. & House, R.J. (2006). In the eye of the

beholder: cross cultural lessons in leadership from project GLOBE.Academy of Management Perspectives, 67-90.

Agarwal, S. (2008). Corporate social responsibility in India. Los Angeles: Response.

Coombs, W. T., & Holladay, S. J. (2012). Managing corporate social responsibility: a communication approach. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.

Urip, S. (2010). CSR strategies corporate social responsibility for a competitive edge in emerging markets. Singapore: Wiley.