Cross-Cultural Business Communication: Aroma Shop's India Expansion

This essay discusses the importance of cross-cultural communication in business, particularly focusing on Mary's plan to expand her condiment business, 'The Aroma Shop,' from Australia to India. It highlights the significance of understanding Indian business etiquette, including greetings, business meeting protocols, and the importance of relationships. The essay also utilizes Hofstede's cultural dimensions model to compare Australia and India, analyzing differences in power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, long-term orientation, and indulgence. Ultimately, the essay recommends that Mary adapt her approach while leveraging similarities between the cultures to ensure a successful business venture in India, emphasizing the need for setting clear meeting goals and objectives to foster strong economic relationships.

Running head: COMMUNICATION IN BUSINESS
COMMUNICATION IN BUSINESS
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Cross-cultural communication...................................................................................................2
Indian business etiquettes...........................................................................................................3
HOFSTEDE cultural approach..................................................................................................5
Recommendation........................................................................................................................7
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................7
References..................................................................................................................................8

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Topic: Business penetration and their effective changes between countries.
Introduction
Communication is the process of cultural ethics that provides clear identification of
knowledge and understanding between employees and management. In case of effective
business communication, the gap in between employees and management curtailed and that
somehow impacted on the clarity, relevance and understanding of the process in business
(Kernbach, Eppler and Bresciani 2015). In the case of non-verbal communication, some
confusion or miss-communication persists. However, in some cases, the process is relevant
enough to consider.
In this assignment, Mary owns "The Aroma Shop" and this is one of the small
condiment business in Australia. The business has some growth opportunities and thus Mary
wants to move the business from Australia to India. Mary will come and attain Mr Sharma
and the man has some ethics as Mr Sharma born and brought up in India thus some etiquettes
and rituals are there that instigate the man as an Indian. Mary also needs to know Indian
culture so that a good business dealing or gel will implement.
In this essay, the aspect of penetrating genre for "The Aroma Shop" and state Indian
etiquettes with the shop is the key concern in that case. The process of differentiation is
relevant to that point as the HOFSTEDE model will be used in that case for the cross-cultural
communication cases.
Cross-cultural communication
The process of communication instigates people from different backgrounds and their
diverse communication process. The communication across culture is the main concern and
intercultural communication is the best way to understand the feeling between two people,
maybe they are from different nations but they have the approach of understanding that helps

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others to some extent (Pearson 2017). The process of socialization helps to mitigate the
communication gap between two people from the different sociological background.
Ethnocentrism is the quality parameter that deals with delivering quality provided in the
organisation. The control of recruitment and strategic enhancement is there and development
of cultural aspect is important in that case. The morality, ethics, law, political situation,
economy, product culture, art, custom, belief and knowledge all these are important for the
cross-cultural communication process (Sigmar, Hynes and Hill 2012). The change in
globalised function and enhance the business execution, cross-cultural communication is
important. The development opportunities are there through the cross-cultural option and the
execution and positive approach will extract from that case.
Indian business etiquettes
India is a sovereign state in South Asia, having 1.2 billion people and consider
themselves as the second largest country in the world in the aspect of the second most
populous country. The cultural aspect of the country is completely different from others,
which is quite obvious in that case. In the modern business context in India, the different
international company have come for business and that will initiate a global business agenda
as well. The process of business mentality, greeting, conversion process, business meeting
and meals all these are completely different from other countries.
The business mentality in India segregates two in types. The first process is the
traditional one and another one is the family-run business. In India, the "Boss' has to take
entire responsibility and the decision making power is with the man (Mehta 2014). The
general working hour of organisations starts at 10 am and some of the offices in Mumbai
starts early at 7.30 am. The business mentality depends on the upper-end people and they are
not responsible to anyone for any organisational change.

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In the case of greeting, the maintenance of hierarchical culture is followed in India.
Senior persons are greeted at first and then it comes downwards. The process is not
associated with the power the man or the woman has, rather it is a kind of respect that elderly
people have got form their younger ones (Updhyay and Sharma 2014). The title of the person
is being used in case of greeting like "Mr", "Mrs", and "Miss" all these are generally used to
provide respect to that person and to make a professional title before the name of the person.
The official language in India is English and Hindi. English is important for business
dealing, politics and education purposes. In the case of business dealing with other nations,
English plays a vital role in understanding and commitment. The major welcome topics in
India like Politics, film and cricket are the major aspect in that case and people come from the
foreign countries are associated with these at ease. Indians are very tolerant and adjusting,
compromising but they try to avoid talking about the religion or the relationship with
Pakistan. In case of addressing ‘No' they nod their head both the sides and in case of saying
yes in a non-verbal manner, they shake their head in a formal way (Rameswarapu,
SurendranathSai and Valsangkar 2015). The body language also determines the positive and
negative approach of the man and that reflected through their eye contact. The eye contact is
the major part of communication as it determines the positive intention of the people. Indian
generally do not touch any body part at the time of communication. The distance between the
people in the case of general speaking is 3 feet apart. Hands-on heap signifies the
interpretation of anger, posture even aggressive attitude.
In the case of business meetings men are in suit and tie or the full sleeve shirt is also
acceptable with the tie. Status is determined by the age, cast, profession and degree the
person has. In a business meeting, food intake is a major approach and Indians prefer to eat
their food with their right hand. The business card is quite popular in India and most of the
Indians, ranked in higher have business cards to showcase their designation (Updhyay and

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Sharma 2014). Indians are punctual enough and try to maintain their time for the business
meetings. They are protective and possessive for their projects and they have a trust over their
fellow workers. Multi-ethnic and pluralistic society persist in that nation and the cultural
difference helps in case of accumulating more people with the nation. The value of the
relationship is the concerning aspect and they try to maintain this at the level best.
HOFSTEDE cultural approach
Figure 1: HOFSTEDE Cultural difference between Australia and India
(Source: Hofstede-insights.com 2018)
In case of power distance, power distribution is one of the main concern for the
organisation of that nation. The individual involvements of employees and managers are the
key matter in that case. Australia scores low in that aspect as they have provided some
individual approach in organisation But India on the other hand, power mainly accumulates
in hand with some of the upper post people. This is the reason India scores 77 on that
particular perspective.

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In the case of individualism, the degree of individualism showcases the independence
in the workplace. The defined term of "I" and "We" is the major aspect in that case and high
individualist cultural is important in that matter (Hofstede-insights.com 2018). Australia has
the high score in that matter with 90 whereas India’s 48 is quite low in that aspect.
The process of masculinity, motivate people is the major aspect of the organisation. In
Australia, a little bit of extra motivation delivers rather than India. Australia scores 61
whereas India is on 56. The evaluation showcases better motivational dimensions of Australia
rather than India from a business perspective.
In case of uncertain avoidance, cultural feel creates belief and institutions. The control
over the future is the key matter that deals with different process and Australia are on 51 and
India is quite low in that case, as they scored 40 (Hofstede-insights.com 2018). Both the
countries are in the intermediate situation and both face some uncontrollable situation as well.
Long-term orientation is the process that maintains the challenges of the present and
future. In the case of Australia, normative culture is present in that situation and the low score
of 21 persist in that situation. They have great respect for traditional and on the other hand,
India scores 51 and that showcases determined culture, philosophical thought process also.
The pragmatism is present in that situation.
The last process is indulging and this is a situation that tries to control the desire and
impulse of the employees and management leads to maintain the process of operation in the
right way. India's low score of 26 showcase cultural restraints and 71 of Australia maintain as
an indulgent country (Hofstede-insights.com 2018). The positive attitude of the country along
with the optimisation is the main aspect in that case.

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Recommendation
The change in total attitude or change is not possible for Mary for the business
dealing in India, rather some of the sections are quite similar to Australia. So, a better
business opportunity persists for "The Aroma Shop", and Mary has to take full utilization of
it. The recommended culture and situation along with their meeting goal and objective needs
to be set and that will hit the bull eye at the process of meeting and economic transaction
process will be evolved along with the relationship between countries (Crews and Stitt-
Gohdes 2012).
Conclusion
Therefore it can be concluded that communication is business is important for the
business dealing and Mary to have to learn the possible formal business perspective to meet
Mr Sharma in India. The medium of communication is also important and that influences the
communication line up, matter and perspective. In the case of face-to-face communication,
the verbal form of communication is the most important part that solves lots of problem in
between employees and management. Meeting, Presentation discussion all these are generally
the part of verbal communication. The aspect of good food culture is there in India and the
business will grow at a huge leap, however, the aspects promotions and other need to be there
but the market opportunities for the company is there and it has a growing perspective.

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References
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communication of business strategies: An experimental evaluation. International Journal of
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Updhyay, Y. and Sharma, D., 2014. Culinary preferences of foreign tourists in India. Journal
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