Cross Cultural Management in Global Business - Marks and Spencer

This report discusses the importance of cross cultural management in global business using Marks and Spencer as an example. It explores the potential opportunities and risks of doing business in high context vs low context cultural environments and provides recommendations for achieving cross cultural proficiency.

International
Business- Cross
Cultural Management
In Global Business

Contents
EXECUATIVE SUMMARY......................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................................3
DISCUSSION AND ANALYSES..............................................................................................................4
Marks and Spencer and its global participation.......................................................................................4
How the potential opportunities and risks of doing business in a high context VS low context cultural
environments can be effectively managed...............................................................................................5
LITERATURE REVIEW............................................................................................................................7
Manage global business...........................................................................................................................7
RECOMMENDATIONS.............................................................................................................................8
Recommendations about how a firm can achieve cross cultural proficiency...........................................8
CONCLUSION...........................................................................................................................................9
REFRENCES..............................................................................................................................................9

EXECUATIVE SUMMARY
This report for reference purpose has taken a company, Marks and Spencer. In this report
the need for cross cultural into an organization has been discussed and why it is important in
today’s world. The report also has covers the ways about how on organization can maintain and
promote cross cultural into its system and structure when they present the company at global
level. Apart from this the report also include the pestel analyses of Marks and Spencer which
evaluate the risks and opportunity the company might have with the context of cross cultural
environment.

INTRODUCTION
Cross culture management breaks the concept of individualism and promotes the concept
for universalism. In cross culture management companies promote the employees who belong to
different culture and regions. The companies integrate the different culture into organization
which also promotes unity and diversity. A company which is planning to present itself globally
or presenting itself globally, it has to adapt such culture for its growth and success purpose. For
reference purpose this report has taken an example of a company, Marks and Spencer. Marks and
Spencer is a British multinational company which specializes in selling quality clothing, home
products and food products (Babatunde and Low, 2015). The company has successfully
established around 1463 stores, serving worldwide. As the company serves throughout the world,
it has to follow or adapt cross culture concept into its system.
This report discusses about how the potential opportunities and risks of doing business in
a high context cultural environments can be effectively managed. The report also includes review
of managing a global business from a range of academic sources. And apart from it the report
also talks about how the firm selected can achieve cross cultural proficiency which is essential
international/ global business venture.
DISCUSSION AND ANALYSES
Marks and Spencer and its global participation
The company Marks and Spencer was established in the year 1884. Initially the company
was expanded in UK only. They launched the company through quality clothes at Bazaar of the
city where they put and sell their clothes at stalls. The company gains the growth in 19 century.
Later the owner also opened their stall in the Manchester city along with some parts of England.
The company expanded its business internationally by expanding it in Canada in the year 1973.
Marks and Spencer opened about 47 stores in Canada itself. In 1975 company opened its store in
some parts of France also follows by a shop at Paris also in 1977 (Chen, Wu and Bian, 2014).
Then the further expansion happed in the city of France and Belgain. In 2016 year the company
enters into the European market. The company goes domestic to international with time but not
with the same time. First it grab its position into its domestic country and then slowly it expands
into their countries by opening up a stall into the mall or Bazaar. It took so many years for a
company to expand itself and to serve worldwide. It is obvious that to become successful and to
establish the brand internationally, the company has to follow the culture of the country in which
it is establishing itself.
The company adapt the cross culture because they know that they have expand their
brand worldwide, so it necessary for them to adopt such culture. Cross culture factor brings the
idea and innovative opinions from people belonging to different places. It also helps the
company to solve the issue which they might be facing in a country. The cross culture
environment can help the company in solving such issues. In cross culture, company employee’s

workers belonging to different cultures and regions (Dupuis, 2014). Different employees who
belong to different culture and region have different styles of thinking and working which can
prove to be a great asset for the company. Cross Culture helps the company in many ways, some
of them are as follows:
Building trust: Employees builds trust upon the company when they see that their work place
encourages and respect their culture. At such environment and work place the employees feel
comfortable and start building trust into the organization. These employees also give and
perform their best to the company because they feel motivated with the environment.
Innovative and creative ideas and system: Cross culture helps the organization in coming up
with innovative and creative ideas in to system. This innovative and creative idea comes from the
employees only. The company before taking any decision takes opinion from its employees and
then the employees put their idea and opinion upon the table which helps the company in coming
up with something which is new for the market and for the company also.
Goodwill: Through the adoption of cross culture, company can increase its good will into the
market place (French, 2015). The goodwill refers to the reputation which a company has outside
to his premises, in short among its share holders, customers, in market, suppliers, and many
more. More the goodwill, more will be the value for the company, therefore all the companies do
consider their goodwill as an important part because they think more the goodwill, more will be
the investors for the company.
Global expansion: When a company expands itself at the global level then it has to follow the
trends, rules, regulations and culture which is prevailing there. It is beneficial for the own growth
of the company. Global expansion helps the company in getting recognition from all over the
world, just as the case with marks and Spencer. The company served worldwide and known by
all. When set the level at global level, it becomes quite obvious for the company to adopt the
cross culture in its system. Cross culture has become a trend into the business market which the
company has to follow now.
How the potential opportunities and risks of doing business in a high context VS low context
cultural environments can be effectively managed.
The risks which a business can face in the external environment can be analyzed through
PESTEL analysis. Pestel analyze is a method to evaluate the external risks and opportunities
which a company can face from the external environment. And accordingly, the company can
make the required decisions about its business. The pestel analysis of Marks and Spencer is as
follows:
Political: Political factors refer to the degree to which government have a control over
industries. Political factor may include the government regulations and policy, political stability,
foreign trade policy, corruption, tax policy, trade restrictions and much more. As in the case with
Marks and Spencer, the company has established in UK, where the political party is very much

stable. The company has stability in his operations as they need not have to change their policy
according to the changing political system or government. The company is operating into more
than a dozen countries and it is following the rules and regulation which is prevailing into the
respective countries. The company usually expands its store in the countries which comes in the
category of developed or developing nation because they now that the price which they offers
can only be effort by the people who belongs to above average category (Gehrke and Claes,
2014).
Economical: Economical factors tell about the economic situation and condition about a nation.
It includes the factors like economic growth, exchange rate, interest rate, inflation rate,
unemployment rate and the so forth. The country in which the company has expanded itself
comes under developing or developed nation. There the people can afford the prices which are
set by the company for their commodities. Company does face loss when any country in which it
has store faces some financial loss. For example in Britain after Brexit, the country goes through
decrease in its GDP and faced situation of unemployment. Not only Marks and Spencer but all
the industries face some kind of financial issue that time.
Social: Social factor includes taste, preferences, trends, population growth rate, age distribution,
career attitudes, and many more. From this factor company gets to know the attitude and
perspective of its target market about a topic. As in case with Marks and Spencer, the company
does market research about the trends which are coming up and the preferences of customers,
along with it also have designers which comes up with new designs and styles (Jackson, 2012).
That’s how the company keeps up with the social factor and serves the market by providing the
product which they are looking for.
Technological: Technological factor may include technological incentives, level of innovation,
automation, R&D activity, technological change and awareness and so forth. More technological
advance the country would be, more develop it will be. Technology helps the companies or
countries in making their activities easy and more productive. Marks and Spencer uses the
advance technology in producing its goods. This advance technology helps the company in
incurring less cost and the more production of goods with less time also. With proper technology
the time and product utility gets fulfilled. Time utility refers to the availability of goods to the
customers at the right time and product availability refers to the availability of products to the
customers.
Environmental: Environmental factor includes weather, climate, environmental policies,
climate change, and pressure from NGO’s and so on. Environmental policies and maintaining
these policies by the company has now become obligatory. Now company has the pressure to use
the products or materials which are environmentally friendly and the manufacturing process
which does not cause harm to the environment. Marks and Spencer, uses the materials which are
environmentally friendly and does not create any harm to the environment (Johnson and Cullen,

2017). The company understands the importance of sustainability development and also strongly
stands upon it.
Legal: Legal factors may include discrimination laws, antitrust laws, employment laws,
consumer protection law, copyright law, and health and safety laws and so on. It is mandatory
for the companies to follow these laws if they want to regulate into the business market.
Different countries have different legal laws. As marks and Spencer serves worldwide, it follows
all the obligations and legal laws accordingly to the country which they are serving. It also helps
the company in gaining the trust of government and also of customers.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Manage global business
According to Keeley Wilson and Yves Doz, 2012, it is very much difficult for a company
to expand and manage itself globally. The company has to use many strategies, need to be up to
date about the upcoming innovations and idea from its competitors, coping up with the problems
which it faced in any particular company or at a global level. To grab the position in a global
business, a business needs to be very consistent about its performance and should have the ability
to see the future (Kirsch, Chelliah and Parry, 2012). There are many strategies from which a
company can maintain itself at a global level, these are as follows:
Provide a stable organizational context: Providing stable organizational context refers to that
company should be stable in its system and structure. It should follow a particular structure and
system which it can follow throughout the company. The system should be flexible enough that
it can absorb the change if company wants to initiate one. It should be strong and without any
loophole. If the company’s basic structure is very weak then how it can survive in a global level.
As in the case with Marks and Spencer, the company serves throughout the world and also has
strong structure which it follows to the entire company irrespective to the country which it is
serving. The company’s system, culture, mission, visions, values and etc are very same
throughout the company. It helps the company in providing the stability in its operations and
clarity in its working activities.
Assign oversight and support responsibility to a senior manager: Every business which is
planning to expand itself at a global level assign the responsibility for management to some
senior manager. As in the case with Marks and Spencer, the company’s owner can’t handle all
the countries in which it is serving so he assigns some senior managers who look after the
performance of the territory or geographical area (Moore, 2015). That manager is responsible for
the performance and also accountable to the owner when a required performance is not getting
for that country or region. That manager frames policies and strategies which gives success to his
region’s performance.

Invest time defining and innovation: The Company should invest its time in innovation and
creation purpose. Innovation is very much necessary for a company growth. From innovation the
company brings new products and services to cater its targeted market. As in the case with
Marks and Spencer, the company brings innovative designs in its cloths and home products. The
company does market research about the trends and preferences of their market along with it also
have designers who design the fashioned clothes. Apparel industry is such industry in which the
organization has to come up some innovative designs every season. It is consider as the fast
changing industry as the designs and the choices of people gets change with seasons.
Allocation of required resources: The global business should be very accurate about the
resources which they will need in their operations. To get themselves successful at the global
level, the company has to maintain their resources and timely make their resources available to
the required place or department. The resources should be allocated according to the capability
not availability.
Communication: Communication plays a major role in managing the business at the global
level. With good and clear communication, employees can easily communicate the problems to
their seniors and they transfer it to the main head. Through this the problem would get solved at
time and it would save the company from getting the situation worst. Company also tries their
best to make good and strong relations with their customers. They keep the communications by
sending them messages at festivals or at eves. They organize the regular events for their
customers and many more (Patel, 2013). From such activities, company makes bond with their
customers which works in good for the company itself.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Recommendations about how a firm can achieve cross cultural proficiency.
There are many recommendations which a company can follow to achieve cross cultural
in the organizations. Some of them are as follows:
Keep an open mind: The organization should keep an open mind and should be very open to
accept the cultures and ethics of people having different cultural background. As in the case with
marks and Spencer, the company is very much open minded when it comes to cross culture. It
has adopted a system which itself promote cross culture into the working environment. The
company understands the benefits and requirement for adopting the same (Plessis, 2012).
Knowledge of people’s background: The Company should have at least a little knowledge
about the cultures so that they don’t neglect the minor cultures. As in the case with Marks and
Spencer, the company does a whole cultural analyses before setting up their store at a particular
city or country. because they feel that they should know about the backgrounds, nature, cultures
and ethics about the place in which they are setting up their business. This helps the company in
a lot many ways.

Steps for retaining a culturally diverse staff: it is the duty to the company to maintain a staff
which includes the people from different cultural backgrounds. By hiring the people with
different cultures, company maintain diversity into its work place. The cultures of the company
should open enough that it should accept all these cultures with open arm and also celebrates and
respect their festivals and eve (Thomas and Peterson, 2016). By retaining the diversity into
organization, the company also gains the goodwill and trust from employees and from market.
Employees who builds trust into the organizations, perform their best in work which ultimately
helps the organization itself. Whereas the goodwill help the organization in raising the investors
and funds from the market.
Structure: The organization should build a structure which encourages cross culture. The
structure which a company form , it follows the same throughout into the whole organization.
The company should have strong as well as flexible structure. Strong as in the structure formed
into the company should be followed properly by all irrespective to the region or geographical
area the company has establish. The company structure should be flexible so that it can absorb
any change which its owner wants to bring in. Structure includes the working culture, mission,
vision, values and so on. As in the case with Marks and Spencer, the company has a strong and
flexible structure which it follows throughout the organization.
Create clear norms and maintain them: The company should be very much clear about the
cross culture norms so that later any problem or issue should not get arise. Also the organization
should stand upon the norms which it has made for cross culture (Thomas, 2015). For example,
Marks and Spencer has set a norm to employee a particular percentage at least of employees who
belongs to some different cultural background. This is the norm which is set by the company
itself and they the company tries its best to also follow it (Tran, 2016). These norms should also
get known by other employees also so that they must understand the value of cross cultural into
an organization. And they does not create any issue from their side.
CONCLUSION
From the report presented above, the importance of cross culture into an organization has
been high lighten. The company can analyze its risk and opportunity which it can have with
cross culture can be evaluated through pestel analyses. Through pestal analyses company can
analyse the external factors which can affect the working and operations of an organization. The
report also includes the ways in which a company can maintain its global business, some of the
ways may include, Provide a stable organizational context, Assign oversight and support,
responsibility to a senior manager, Invest time defining and innovation and much more. at last
the report gives recommendations about how to promote and manage cross cultural into an
organization at global level.

REFRENCES
Books and Journals
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conflict management styles on cultural intelligence and cross-cultural
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context and meaning in the perception of management styles. International Journal of
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management perspective. Macmillan International Higher Education.
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conflict management in a multicultural organizational context. International Journal
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Thomas, D. C. and Peterson, M. F., 2016. Cross-cultural management: Essential concepts. Sage
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Thomas, D. C., 2015. Cultural intelligence. Wiley Encyclopedia of Management, pp.1-3.
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management within multinational corporations (MNCs). In Handbook of research on
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