Cross Cultural Activities in Manufacturing Shift

This report discusses the opportunities and risks of a partial shift of manufacturing for a shoe manufacturing company. It also explores the challenges in human resources and provides solutions. The report also covers the associated issues around purchasing, logistics, and others.

Developing Cross
Cultural Activities

Tables of content
Tables of content..............................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
Opportunities and risks of a partial shift of manufacturing.........................................................3
The value offered in the field of Human Resources....................................................................5
The associated issues around purchasing, logistics, and others, are handled by other
departments..................................................................................................................................6
Literary review.............................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Businesses around the world are looking forward to expand and increase production looking at
the higher demand that the market has displayed over the years. There are multiple ways to
expand the business like opening a franchise or serving a completely new market in order to
increase the market share. In the field of manufacturing the expansion comes in the ways of
taking the process of manufacturing at a place that offers low cost of production with multiple
other benefits. In this way the company is able to increase the production rate along with the
profit margin (Goldstein 2019). This report based on the partial expansion of medium scale show
manufacturing company Shoelegant based in Northampton. The company is considering making
a partial shift in the manufacturing of the shoes in China. This report consists of opportunities
and risk involved in the partial shift of manufacturing, human resource challenges and ways of
overcoming them along with a brief discussion of the issues in such form of expansion.
MAIN BODY
Opportunities and risks of a partial shift of manufacturing
In the ever growing international market and with the effects of globalisation all the countries
around the world are moving to expanding their operation in the countries that operate with low
cost and hence increasing the profit for the company. Just like all other business functions there
are several opportunities and risk factors involved in the process of the shifting the
manufacturing to another country (Gui, Walker and Harshaw, 2019). These are as follows,
Opportunities
Skilled and Low costing labour: One of the major factors that attracts the established and
growing companies to make a move to shift its production in another country is the availability
of the labour in low cost. In any form of manufacturing it is the labours that play a crucial role
both through the activities and in the budget and finance of the company. Through the partial
shift the company Shoelegant can increase its production at much cheaper rate thus allowing the
company to meet the rising market demand and ultimately making more profit. Another major

benefit of this shift is the recruitment of skilled labours that help in the quality of the product
along with the increased effectiveness in production.
Large potential market: When a company makes a partial shift in the manufacturing of the
product, not only does it increase its efficiency of production to satisfy the existing market but
also increases its market share by offering the products in the same market it has expanded its
production to. In this way the company has higher chance of market expansion and thus
increasing the sales of the company (Laconi and et.al., 2018). There are various companies in
China but there is always scope for the success of foreign brand that serves quality to the people
of the country.
Risks
Cultural difference: The risk involved in the process of manufacturing shift is the difference in
the working culture of the two nations. Organisation culture refers to the working methods,
ethics, values and belief of an organisation. Communication also decides the organisational
culture. In every business the culture plays a crucial role in the effective working and
performance of the company (Shiraev and Levy, 2020). There is a huge difference in the work
culture of China and UK. that clearly reflects in the working methods of the companies of
different origin.
Political instability: When a company take it processes to another country in the search of low
operational costs, it has to face the challenges and issue in the external environment of the host
country. There is a reason behind the low cost of labour in every country. This reason is the
comparative low economy of the company which is turns a result of all the external factors.
Political instability is one of the main risks that are to be faced when the company moves its
production to China.
Low skilled-labour retention: With a high number of companies moving to china in the search
of low costing labours there is an increased demand and thus cost hike in the among the skilled
labours of the company. There is always another big market company that is making its entrance
in the manufacturing market of China thus resulting in the low retention of the skilled labour for
a company that is tight on budget (Carlson and et.al., 2019). It is because that every time the

labour is offered a better wage the training and process information is to be beard by the
company and hence resulting into an operational loss.
The value offered in the field of Human Resources
With the initial thought making a partial shift in the manufacturing follows the thoughts of the
differences among the working ways of the two nations. It is because of the cultural differences
of the two countries the working ways and the organisational culture also differs. There various
issue that are faced by the employees and managers of a company working in external
environment (Shi and et.al., 2020). These issues are as follows,
 The supervisors find it difficult to understand the employees.
 The employees rely a lot on the supervisors, thus reduced efficiency.
 With the lacking understanding Employees are rules bounded in order to get the result.
 Manages appear to be rigid and not understanding from the perspective of the employees.
 All these factors leads to the loss of team spirit which itself is the biggest downfall factor
for the success of the company.
In order to solve an issue it is very important to understand the deepest cause of the issue. Hence
which these entire key issues in the organisation environment that affects the human resource
directly these must be some strategic changed and adjustment are to be made. These strategic
solutions are as follows.
Cultural perspective induction: One of the primary strategic move to solve out the organisation
issue and add values to the human resource is establishing the understanding of different cultures
through the perspective of each other. Every culture is formed through the years of practices and
hence every practice can be logically explained to an outsider. The key purpose of this induction
is to train and educate both the host and guest culture to develop a better understanding of other’s
culture (Costi and et.al., 2020). Culture not only helps in the understanding of the working ways
and selection of organ satiation practices but also promotes the communication among
employees coming from different culture and this improving the organisational environment.
Cross cultural training: The later step after educating both the groups about each other’s culture
the training is to be based on the cross cultural methods. That is training the different groups to
adapt the others culture and thus establishing the equilibrium of the working ways in the

organisation (Jiricka-Pürrer and et.al., 2019). This process is to followed in the two sub steps that
involves, training the local people for foreign organisational culture and simultaneously training
the foreign employee for the local organisation culture thus achieving the result and state of
similarity and acceptance for each other.
Expatriate managers: In every foreign production process the most important role in the
efficient working of the branch is that of expatriate managers. These are the employees of the
company who have been working at the home country based unit and thus understand the
working and organisational ways of the company better than anyone else (Merhi, Hone and
Tarhini, 2019). These managers are well equipped with the knowledge of foreign culture along
with the field they particularly manage. Expatriate managers play the role of bridge between the
two cultures and this help in the smooth and effective working of the company through their
supervision and managerial methods.
The associated issues around purchasing, logistics, and others, are handled by other departments.
Apart from the human resource and cultural issue there are few others issue as well that a
company has to face while partially shifting its processes to a foreign nation. A business itself is
a resulting product of several external factors that affect the business directly. These factors are
political, legal, social and technological etc (Berry and Dasen, 2019). It is very important for a
company to detect and prepare itself for the challenges which are as following,
Technological: Every host country’s best feature is the availability of the low cost labours and
apart from these characteristics the country lacks on various other facilities. Technology is one of
them. In the home country the company enjoys all the technological support as it has been
developed over the years of development but same cannot be considered for the host country
many a times the company misses the advance technology that offered precision and efficiency
in the production.
Purchasing: Purchasing refers to the activity of buying raw materials that are to be used the
manufacturing of the product. Because of the improper external environment of the home
country the company faces issue in function of purchasing thus resulting into the delay in the
process which costs huge value to the company (Ahmed and et.al., 2019). Thus a proper check
on the external environed must be kept in order to curb the losses due to respective reasons.

Logistic inefficiency: Logistics refers to the translocation of raw material to the factory or
manufacturing unit and that of finished product to the retailers or back to the home country. The
logistics requires well developed transportation system in the host country and most importantly
its smooth working (Shadiev and et.al., 2018). In China there is a well developed transport
system but there are times when its smooth working cannot be counted as the strong point.
Hence the company must be prepared for such issue and plan in advance to overcome it.
Literary review
Cross-cultural and HR-related considerations that emerge with such a shift of production
The income of third-world countries has increased significantly because of hiring policies like
having a certain variety of small jobs in foreign operations. Local people are gradually
improving their poor condition, despite the fact that such local workers only receive a percentage
of the salaries or benefits that developed nations receive the same number of worker for any
specific Job role. As per the review of Sukanya, (2015), many features of cultures help us feel
analogous to someone else since people who are attracted to everybody express them. “Culture is
characterised as the common features and awareness of a group, particularly cultures, culture,
habits, as well as other social behaviours,” according to the concept. Culture has an effect about
how we interact with others in many ways, and when people fail to understand different language
differences, disagreement may occur. This is also why getting personnel management abilities is
so important to a company's success.Management is a large part of daily relationships between
employers and employees. There is normally a hierarchy, with being at the top dictating what
must be done; nevertheless, this has not been the case. Companies, like the French and Italians,
are social arrangements of relationships that is govern by authority and power. Since Hrm
activities often include preparation, interaction, and programming language, they could be
especially vulnerable to misconceptions, misreading’s, and disputes coordinating the efforts and
authority. Companies that are mindful of cross-cultural problems achieve a competitive edge and
are therefore more likely to grow, especially into emerging economies.
As per the Edward hall, the main factors, which can influence the practices of HR within an
organisation, is classified into two classes, which is high and low context cultural factors.
High-level background

Many due to the following factors aid people in understanding the laws in a high-context society.
Therefore, many things are accepted as fact.
It can be perplexing for those who are unfamiliar with the country's culture "unwritten laws."
Low-level meaning
Nothing is overlooked in a close to zero society. Although this necessitates more detail, it also
reduces the risk of confusion, especially while travellers are attending the session for company ar
different place or country.
Factor High-context culture Low-context culture
Message
s that
are
obvious
Failure
identific
ation
and
multipli
city of
influenc
e
Through use of analogy and stating the
obvious, there are several subliminal
and implied messages.
There are several overt and
indirect communications that
are plain and straightforward.
Private External locus of influence and A lot of nonverbal contact

recogniti
on of
loss and
internal
self
efficacy
external responsibility for failure
Written language is used.
occurs. More emphasis is
placed on social interaction
rather than facial expressions.
Respons
e
expressi
on
Reactions that are reserved and inward Internal, visible, and outward
reaction
Team
harmony
and
different
iation
There is a clear distinction between the
identity group and the out-group. A
strong sense of belonging.
Adaptable and open
classification patterns that can
be changed as necessary
People's r
elations
Successful people have strong links to th
eir families and communities.
People with hardly any sense of
duty form fragile bonds.

Relation
ship
level
Relationship level of engagement
Long-term relationships require a high l
evel of commitment (Winkelman 2021).
Tasks are less critical than
relationships. Relationship
commitment is low.
Time
adaptabi
lity
Time is fluid and free. Product is less critical than
method.
The
passage
of time
is
carefully
planned.
The passage of time is carefully
planned. Method is less critical than
product.
Different cultures deal with these aspects of distinction in many formats, although
various ethnicities deal with these discrepancies in a variety of ways as well. Being mindful of
these principles aids you in determining the interactions that had in comparison to the
background. It makes the encounter less uncertain and potentially dangerous. Dimensions of
cultural meaning offer clarity as well as a starting point for cultural understanding. They are,
nevertheless, frequently perceived as abstract and below the surface, however once they adjust to
something like the cultural aspects; they can no longer notice the cultural differences.

CONCLUSION
It is concluded from the above report that partial shift of manufacturing is depended upon
various factors which are human resource management and understanding of cross cultural
development. Cultures play a vital role in the development of both an individual and the
business as well thus in order to perform the business functions in a host country the
knowledge understanding of the cultures along with that of the external factors are one of
the most crucial requirement of each and every business. Furthermore the report also
establishes the role of human resource management and the value it adds to the functioning
of the business in the foreign country.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Ahmed and et.al., 2019. Cross-cultural validation of the 5-factor structure of negative symptoms
in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia bulletin. 45 (2) .pp.305-314.
Berry, J.W. and Dasen, P.R. eds., 2019. Culture and cognition: Readings in cross-cultural
psychology. Routledge.
Carlson and et.al., 2019. Nursing students' perceptions of peer learning through cross‐cultural
student‐led webinars: A qualitative study. Journal of advanced nursing, 75(7), pp.1518-1526.
Costi and et.al., 2020. Cross-cultural validation of Activities Scale for Kids: the performance of
healthy Italian children. The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness. 60 (7) ,pp.1014-
1019.
Goldstein, S.B., 2019. Cross-cultural explorations: Activities in culture and psychology.
Routledge.
Gui, J., Walker, G.J. and Harshaw, H.W., 2019. Meanings of xiū xián and leisure: Cross-cultural
exploration of laypeople’s definition of leisure. Leisure Sciences, pp.1-19.
Jiricka-Pürrer and et.al., 2019. Do protected areas contribute to health and well-being? A cross-
cultural comparison. International journal of environmental research and public health. 16
(7) .p.1172.
Laconi and et.al., 2018. Cross-cultural study of Problematic Internet Use in nine European
countries. Computers in Human Behavior. 84 .pp.430-440.
Merhi, M., Hone, K. and Tarhini, A., 2019. A cross-cultural study of the intention to use mobile
banking between Lebanese and British consumers: Extending UTAUT2 with security, privacy
and trust. Technology in Society. 59 p.101151.
Shadiev and et.al., 2018. Applications of speech-to-text recognition and computer-aided
translation for facilitating cross-cultural learning through a learning activity: issues and their
solutions. Educational Technology Research and Development. 66 (1) .pp.191-214.
Shi and et.al., 2020. Cross-Cultural Adaptation and Psychometric Evaluation of the Community
Healthy Activities Model Program for Seniors Physical Activity Questionnaire in Chinese Older
Adults. Journal of Aging and Physical Activity. 28 (6) .pp.952-961.
Shiraev, E.B. and Levy, D.A., 2020. Cross-cultural psychology: Critical thinking and
contemporary applications. Routledge.
Winkelman, M.J., 2021. A cross-cultural study of the elementary forms of religious life:
shamanistic healers, priests, and witches. Religion, Brain & Behavior. 11 (1) .pp.27-45.
Online
Sukanya,R, The Challenges of Cross - Cultural Issues in Human Resource Management: A
Descriptive Analysis, 2015 {available through}
< https://search.proquest.com/docview/1657284513?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true>