Cross Cultural Management: Strategies for Minor Food Hotel Expansion in Japan and Germany

This report discusses the cross cultural challenges faced by Minor Food Hotel while expanding in Japan and Germany. It includes a cultural analysis of Japan and Germany using Hofstede's cultural dimensions, cultural barriers and difficulties faced by the hotel, and strategies to overcome them. The report recommends being open-minded and having effective communication skills to overcome these challenges.

Cross Culture Management
Skills

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY.............................................................................................................................4
Task 1: Briefly explain the background information of the selected company with the
following detail structure, original country and the countries to be expanded, aims, strategy
and other relevant information...............................................................................................4
Task 2: Briefly explain the cultural analysis of Japan and Germany by applying the
Hofstede’s cultural dimensions to research country’s social and corporate cultural-
behaviours...............................................................................................................................6
Task 3: Briefly explain the cultural barriers and difficulties that are faced by the minor food
hotel in Japan and Germany...................................................................................................7
Task 4: Identify the strategy that can be adopted by the organisation to overcome the Cross
culture barrier.........................................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION.......................................................................11
Conclusion:...........................................................................................................................11
Recommendation:.................................................................................................................11
References................................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
With the globalisation of all the business activities, the cross cultural concept also
gaining more importance and acceptance day by day. Many organisations that want to expand
and diversify their goods and services are gradually investing their capital so that they can
learn the culture and society prior to the expansion. Cross culture is a concept of recognising
the cultural difference between different business or the country (Palmieri and et. al, 2020).
Business cultural difference means the efforts made by the company so that they can know
the cultural and society of the other country.
This is done with the motive of bridge the gap between one another. In this report the
base Thailand company that is chosen is minor international and the two nations where the
company want to expand is in Japan and Germany. Minor international is the Multinational
brand that is based in Bangkok, Thailand. The company deal in three sector that is hospitality,
lifestyle and restaurants (Munteanu and Raţiu, 2018). The company has so many brands like
Minor hotels, Minor lifestyles and minor Food. The company was founded in 1978 by
William E. Hreinecke. The headquarter is in Khlong Toei, Bangkok. The sector which is
chosen for the expansion is Minor Food as it is one of the largest food chain restaurants
which has over 2300 outlets (Čiuladienė, 2018).
In this report a detailed study will be conducted on the cultural difference between
Japan, Germany and Thailand, so that the mangers of the minor food hotel can train their
employee according the nation and enhance their skills and knowledge according to the
society they will be capturing. It is very important to know the society because they are those
people which help the organisation to be successful or for the loss. Cultural difference can be
occur due to beliefs, behaviour, languages, race, culture and many more which are different
from origin to origin (Liu and et. al, 2018).

MAIN BODY
Task 1: Briefly explain the background information of the selected company with the
following detail structure, original country and the countries to be expanded, aims, strategy
and other relevant information
Minor international Pcl (MINT) is the Asia biggest company in the pacific region.
The company is diversified in various portfolios such are Hospitality, restaurant and lifestyle
sector. There are approax 520 hotel which are under the subsidy of minor hotel approax 2300
minor restaurant are there and around 440 outlets of lifestyle. The minor international is
serving more than 62 countries in the world (Al-Kfairy and Mellor, 2020).
The company was established in 1967 by an 17 year old boy William Heinecke. At
the time he founded two companies that is Inter Asian advertising agency and the Inter Asian
enterprise which is an office cleaning company. The company is a Bangkok based Thailand
company. It is public limited company which officially gains the image on 1978. The
company served in more area which are Asia- Pacific, middle east, Africa, Europe, South
America (Liebel and et. al, 2018). Approax 66,000 number of employee works in different
organisation of minor international. In this report the sector which are choosing for the
expansion purpose are Minor food. The minor food is one of the largest restaurants
companies. It operates in 27 countries under the sector of Pizza company, coffee club, Thai
express etc. the organisation structure of minor food is consist of Board of director than
Corporate secretary than comes audit committee, nominating and corporate governance
Committee and many more. The below is the structural diagram of the Minor company:

The origin country of the Minor food is Thailand. Thailand is the Southeast Asian country.
The capital of Thailand is Bangkok. The currency which is used by the people of the country
is Thai baht. The culture that they followed is of Buddha culture. The two country were they
want to expand is Japan and Germany. Japan is an island country in East Asia, which is
located in the northwest Pacific Ocean. The capital city is Tokyo and the currency is Yen.
The gross population is 12.58 crore (Briole and Belghiti-Mahut, 2018). Germany is a
European western country. The capital city of Germany is Berlin. The currency used is Euro.
The current population is 8.32 crore. The culture of both these countries is different from that
of Thailand. The two nation is chosen by the Minor international for the expansion is that
because the food they like to eat is somehow same as of Thailand. So minor international
chose their food sector to be expanded in this country (Silpa-Archa, and et. al, 2018).
Aim for international expansion: The minor food aim for getting international is “to create a
over sea business having a global presence and can earn profit quickly.

This aim is set by the business so that they can quickly earn the revenue by knowing their
culture.
The company has chosen the two strategies of Expansion through diversification and
expansion through internationalisation. Expansion of diversification is used by the Minor
food so that they can enter into the new market and change their business operations and
expansion to internationalization is selected so that they can gain the aim of expanding the
business activity by going beyond the national market.
Task 2: Briefly explain the cultural analysis of Japan and Germany by applying the
Hofstede’s cultural dimensions to research country’s social and corporate cultural-
behaviours.
Hofstede’s cultural dimensions theory is a framework that is developed by Geert
hofstede. It is designed for cross cultural communication. It is used by the organisation to
show the affect of society and culture on the values and how they will affect the consumer
behaviour. There are six dimension of national social culture. These are Power distance
index, Individualism vs. collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity vs. femininity, long
term and short term orientation and Indulgence vs. restraint. These all factors are very
important for making an effective cross culture communication (Li and et. al, 2018).
 Power distance index (PDI): Power distance is used to know the social inequality
that is accepted in Japan and Germany. If PDI is high in the country then it means that
they follow the elder values. This PDI index is high in both the countries so the minor
food lead to follow the autocratic leadership style so that they can tell their employee
that what the organisation want to do so the they can reduce the gap between the
values and the organisation (Kern, 2020).
 Individualism vs. Collectivism: Individualism means a society and culture were
more importance is giving to self and autonomy. In contrast Collectivism means the
society gives more importance to the culture were they are not look for self but for
family. In Japan they are more collectivist nation were all their decision is based upon
the family and Germany is a truly Individualist one were they just love to a small
family and live independently (Palm and Carroll, 2019).
 Uncertainty avoidance: It is that part of Hofstede dimension where they try to find
out the behaviour of the society and culture over the uncertain or unfamiliar situation.

If there is high uncertainty avoidance culture then in that nation people tend to prefer
an environment full of rules and regulation and if this is low then it means the society
are more relaxed and work with limited rules. According to the report both the
country has high uncertainty avoidance index which means both the nation avoided
unfamiliar conditions (Jefferies, 2020).
 Masculinity vs. Femininity: Masculinity means those culture were society gives
more emphasis on men success. There is high degree of gender distinction whereas in
Femininity society there is no gender distinction the distance role is overlap.
Masculine cultures is more assertive and decisive, whereas feminine is more intuitive
managers who negotiate disputes and encourage participation in decisions. Japan is
more masculine society in the world as compared to Germany was the Masculinity is
less (Minkov and Kaasa, 2020).
 Indulgence vs. Restraint: Indulgence indicate that the society culture is much fun
loving and enjoy their life whereas Restraint indicate that the culture need more
societal norms and need rules and regulation. Germany has indulgence society culture
and Japan has Restraint culture.
 Long term and short term orientation: Long term orientation focuses on future
rather than short term success they focus on long term growth. Short term orientation
focus on present and want to gain gratification on short term success. Japan is much
focused on long term orientation and Germany on short term orientation according to
one research (Rojo and et. al, 2020).
Task 3: Briefly explain the cultural barriers and difficulties that are faced by the minor food
hotel in Japan and Germany.
The minor food industry has to face various cultural challenges when they are
expanding in Japan and Germany. These barriers will act as a hurdle in the process of
expansion. Some barriers are discussed below:
 Language barrier: One of the most important cultural barrier that occurs while
expansion is the Language barrier. The language that is speaks in Japan is Japanese
where Germany speak the language of German Deutsch. These both languages is
different from the Thailand. So the employee which is recruiter will face the problem
as they will not be able to understand the information which will create the problem
of Cross cultural communication. Verbal communication is very important for the

food industry so if this is not proper than it will create the problem of words which
will be loss for the company (Chun and et. al, 2021).
 Stereotypes and prejudice: If the nation is of stereotype than it will create negative
image about the specific organisation. This barrier will be face by the Minor food
industry in Japan were they follow the restrict culture barrier and believe in
collectivism approach. The basic stereotype issues can be gender, race, age, religion.
In German the people are very punctual and direct. These all will create the problem
for the organisation to expand their business in effective and efficient way (Sanday,
2020).
 Behaviours and belief: Cultural difference also occurs due to behaviour and
personality. The behaviour pattern and the values of the nation is the biggest barrier
that a organisation faces while going in the international market. the body language,
gestures, mindsets, norms, ethics are the various challenges and create
miscommunication People’s varied religious or spiritual beliefs can also lead to
conflict and cross-cultural barriers. Japan is collectivism societies where they are
strictly follows their ethics and norms and is not ready to compromise on it. So for
Minor food industry it is very important to learn their behaviour pattern and belief so
that they can minimise the risk of uncertainty (Tekeş and et. al, 2019).
 Ethnocentrism: It is very natural to see the culture of other nation with the eye of own,
this creates the problem of Ethnocentrism were they implies and see things what they
think right and sometime this create the problem for the organisation. This creates the
behaviour in negative manner (Merhi Hone and Tarhini, 2019).
 Psychological barrier: Psychological barrier arises due to the perception created by
the human. Is barrier is due to emotional character or any mental illness. Every
organisation see this barrier were they cannot fully learn the needs and feelings of the
customer and the nation. The taste and preference of the customer depends upon their
surrounding what is needed in Thailand does not mean the customer of Japan and
Germany also like it. Japan taste is also different that for Germany so if a proper
analysis is not made by the Minor food internationalisation then this will create a
hurdle on it and the expansion will not be good for them (Minkov and et. al, 2018).
All these challenges need to be carefully analysed by the minor internationalisation and
prepared them from the uncertainty so that they can easily survive in the international market.

Task 4: Identify the strategy that can be adopted by the organisation to overcome the Cross
culture barrier.
It is very important that the organisation should prepare their employee in such a way
that they can overcome for the challenges that are arises when adopt cross culture expansion.
Some the strategies that can be adopted by the organisation to overcome the barriers are:
 Be open minded: The first most strategy that can be acquired by the Minor food to
overcome the above challenges are to be open minded. They train their employee in
such a way were they are open minded to adopt the values of the Japan and Germany.
Rigidity behaviour should be changed toward the flexibility. They are ready to take
the feedbacks that are provided to them. They should have the attitude of tolerating
things rather than responding in a very bad manner. They need to move out from their
comfort zone and start adopting the new culture and trends (Prasanthi and Rao, 2019).
 Effective communication skills: Having an effective communication skills is very
good approach toward overcoming the challenges. They need to be effective and
should posses’ reliable communication skills. Before going out in other nation the
employee first develop the communication so that they can interact with the customer
in their language. Minor food international also makes a single hub for their
centralised communication so that employee can develop the skills of excellent
communication. They have made various chat boxes, audio, video file which can be
used to gain knowledge according to the culture. It is very important to secure both
the cultural and technical level (Dwairy and Jagelman, 2020).
 Cultural awareness difference: It is very important to raise awareness among
employees of the minor international about the difference in the international diversity
workplace. So to raise awareness the company can arrange different kinds of training
and coaching. By doing this they can customize their employee according to the
society they are going to operate. As Japan is collectivism society for them ethical
norms are so important. They strictly not adopt those product which are against them.
So by ding this they can raise the employee about the Japanese culture and norms. So
that they can be aware of the real world situation that going to be faced and how they
can overcome from it (Chandra, Paul and Chavan, 2020).
 Recruit the employee of the country: One of the best way by which the company
can overcome form the cross culture barrier. If the employee is being recruited and

selected from the country were they want to expand it will be a good strategy as the
organisation will easily know the culture of the country and the employee of the base
country can also know about it. They also effectively handle the situation. If Minor
international hire the employee of Japan and Germany then they will solve the
problem and can better tell about the taste and preference of the people (Robson and
Wihlborg, 2019).
 Team building: Cross culture barrier can be overcome if the organisation gas
effective team. Team building is a very critical matter for every business organisation.
So if the Minor international give more importance on building their team than a
better understanding can be made between the employee and they can effectively
work with the team and solve the cross barrier together. Teamwork exists when
people smoothly understand the functioning of the culture. This can also be done by
giving the feedback to the employee who is working in different countries. For them
feedback play a very important role so that they can know the mistake while working
in Japan and Germany (Boso and et. al, 2019).
 Simple and accurate language: Sometime cross cultural barrier can be solved by
using simple and accurate language. The smart and careful people management build
the trust among the employee and customer. Employee can avoid using the slang and
those word which create problem of misunderstanding. So the employee should be
developed in such a way that they use such language which is simple to understand
and help the citizen of the other country t feel comfortable while communicating.
Using of accurate words, pronunciation and factual language is the best way to
overcome the challenge of cross culture expansion (Arregle Hitt and Mari, 2019).

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Conclusion:
From the above report this is analysed that knowing cross culture is very important if
the company decided to go for international expansion. Cross culture is a mindful concept
which is use by the Minor internationalisation so that they can improve their efficiency in
Japan and Germany, can also look after their customer in better manner. Society’s culture is
very helpful in Food industry of Minor food as this assist the business to reduce the
challenges and uncertainty that occur while operating their business. This also helps in
developing the public relationship and gain trust of the clients from both the countries. Social
responsibility is the foremost concept that is needed to be seen for international expansion.
This will be beneficial for the company to develop the skills and behaviour of the recruited
employee towards the culture follow by the foreign country. The ethics, norms, beliefs,
values and many more is very important to get success in the foreign market. With adopting
the strategy of Cross culture business can focused them to gain long term benefits from the
international market. In the cross culture expansion customer is more inclined towards the
culture that they follow so it is very important feature of the companies to know the
importance of Cross Culture diversification.
Recommendation:
From the above report it is been recommended that there are several strategies that
can be used by the food industry in order to make their organisation more sustainable in the
foreign market. It is very important for the organisation to provide a proper awareness about
the other country where they want to open their organisation to their employees so that they
can develop themselves according to the culture they are operating. It is also recommended
that is the companies get to know the behaviour and attitude of the clients toward their culture
then it will help them to survive for longer time in the foreign market. If a strong relationship
between the foreign client and organisation is been made then they can operate with effective
and efficient manner. The employees also need to come out from their comfort zone and start
acquiring the skills which help them in the uncertain culture. There are various strategy to
overcome from the cross culture barrier and if the company adopt them then this can change

themselves according to the dynamic culture of the international market and gain the
competitive advantage out of it.
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