Effective Communication Strategies for Multinational Businesses

This report examines the significance of effective business communication within a multinational company operating in diverse countries. It focuses on the current communication issues, including communication breakdowns, inefficient time management, cross-cultural factors, local language barriers, and digital illiteracy. The study explores good communication practices adopted by various organizations, such as open meetings, emails, one-on-one sessions, presentations, training, and feedback mechanisms. It then analyzes the challenges faced by the company, proposing future strategies to address these issues, including timely communication, minimizing communication breakdowns through weekly meetings, and implementing feedback collection methods like surveys and feedback boxes. The report also discusses the implications of these strategies and concludes with a summary of the key findings and recommendations for improving business communication effectiveness.

Running head: EFFECTIVE BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
Effective Business Communication
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Executive Summary
The study focuses on the significance of effective business communication. The case study
follows the current communication issues faced by a multinational company operating in
different countries. The study would reflect on the establishment of the effective communication
process by mitigating the probable risks and minimizing the improper practices. The overview of
the case study notifies that currently the company has been facing the challenging scenario due
to the communication breakdown, inefficient time management, cross-cultural aspects, local
communication issues, and digital illiteracy. The study develops the idea about the good
practices of business communications adopted by the different organisations. The strategic
analysis to address and mitigate these issues is also presented in this study. Accordingly, the
necessary implications are also discussed.

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction..................................................................................................................................2
2. Background of the Case and Problem Identification...................................................................2
3. Good Communication Practices..................................................................................................3
4. Future Strategies..........................................................................................................................6
5. Implications...............................................................................................................................10
6. Conclusion.................................................................................................................................11
References......................................................................................................................................12

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1. Introduction
Business professionals often depend on the efficient communication purposes for
building the strengthened internal partnerships. The effective communication is fruitful enough
in developing the remarkable customer base that eventually helps in sustaining the competitive
position (Mai & Hoffmann, 2014). In order to move the corporate agenda forward, the corporate
professionals soften take the help of the efficient communicational transparency that interests
their intended targets. Similarly, the lack of the proper communication process creates the
negative impacts on the company that may lead towards failure of the corporate projects
(Kernbach, Eppler & Bresciani, 2015). The involvement of the two or more parties is necessary
for achieving the effective communicational goals. The study would look forward to address
some of the communicative mismanagement faced by and multinational company. The study
would reflect on the establishment of the effective communication process by mitigating the
probable risks and minimizing the improper practices. Furthermore, the study would also present
the necessary implications for each of the identified problems mentioned in the case study.
2. Background of the Case and Problem Identification
The case study highlights the business scenario of a multinational company that operates
in different countries like Vietnam, Australia, India, Nigeria, and Oman. The company deals with
the manufacturing and distribution process of the agricultural equipment to both the international
and domestic clients. It is thus necessary for the company to establish the effective
communication process to manage the functionalities in an efficient way. The impactful
communication process would be beneficial in terms of maintaining cohesiveness among the
employees and strengthening the customer base (Moshiri & Cardon, 2014). Almost 8,000

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employees are associated with the company in these five countries. The company serves more
than a million customers all over the world. Headquarter of the company is situated in Australia
and the business operations are managed from different branches located in different countries.
Currently, the company has been facing a number of challenges due to the ineffective
communication process. The majority of the problem is reflecting on the following factors:
 Inefficient time management for communicating with the clients and business staffs
 The communication breakdown from the top management to the associated staffs and the
staffs to the top management
 Lack of proper source to get feedback from the clients that help in identifying the area of
improvements needed in the service delivery and product quality
 The growing issues around the local language
 The emerging issues with the cross cultural factors foreseen in different countries
 The lack of proper digital literacy in some of the countries
 The improper use of the social media for communication purposes
These are the major issues faced by the company while establishing the proper
communication. The study would thus focus on the theoretical implication of managing the
corporate communication process. The development of the strategies for mitigating the issues
would be discussed in the further section of the study.
3. Good Communication Practices
The effective leadership process contributes to the structured and impressive
communication practices in an organisation. It is essential to focus on the good practices of the
communications adopted by the different organisations. The team based or group based work

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culture requires the communicational transparency (Jackson, 2014). In order to manage the
group-based activities, some of the specific good communication practices are needed to be
taken into considerations. These practices are discussed further:
1. Open Meeting
Many of the organisations undertake the communication process by arranging the
frequent group meeting. It is notable that the arrangements of the group meeting are quite easier
process of communicating with the team (Cenere et al., 2015). The open meeting is quite
effective since the members not only can communicate, they can even observe and feel it. The
open meeting communication is considered as the most efficient process of business
communication.
2. Emails
Communication through the email remains potent in the professional settings. Each
member of the organisation has the official mail ID through which the information can be
transmitted to the staffs of every level. It is helpful enough in enabling the information flow to
the different locations (Bovée & Thill, 2013). The communication through emails is widely
accepted by the organisations in current business scenario.
3. One on One Session
It has been observed that many of the people are much comfortable to express their
concerns related to work if they were taken aside and communicated separately. In such cases,
arranging the one-on-one session is much helpful for the organisations (Conrad, 2014). It is

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necessary to make proper eye contact during such session. It enables the message to sink while
they can communicate openly about their concerns.
4. Use of the Proper Presentation
Many of the organisations adopt the visual presentations to convey messages to the staffs.
It is notable that many people visualize and understand more effectively if the message is
conveyed through the visual presentations and in a clear way. The use of the Microsoft Power
Point to communicate and convey the messages related to the organisational context is quite
beneficial for the organisations (Ainsworth, 2013). Communication through presentation is quite
opportune to refer back whenever the members are uncertain about anything.
5. Communication process through Training
Undertaking the efficient training session is another good communication practice that
can be used for conveying messages. The training session requires following the effective
communication process that would address the areas of concerns (Becker, 2017). The
communication through training process is much effective during the appraisal process.
6. Encouraging Feedback
While sharing information with the organisational staffs, it is also necessary to gather
more feedback apart from conveying messages. The feedback provides the means of measuring
the effectiveness of the adopted communication style. It helps in generating the idea whether the
messages are understandable to the associated staffs (Welch, 2015). Moreover, receiving
feedback is also helpful in identifying the areas of improvements as well as the innovative
methods of managing organisational functionalities.

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Majority of the multinational organisations develop such practices of the efficient
communication. Maintaining the proper gesture is necessary for the business professionals to
establish a cohesive atmosphere with effective communication process (Kankaanranta, Louhiala-
Salminen & Karhunen, 2015). The voice modulation, the body language, and the interpersonal
attribute are the major factors to be considered while establishing the proper communication
process in professional field.
Organisational Benchmarking
The good practices in the business communication are effective enough in gathering the
clients’ responses. However, the cultural differences and diverse lingual values are the major
concerns for the business companies. Especially, in case of the multinational organisations, these
cross-cultural issues in the business communication are much visible. Many of the organisations
undertake the strategic functionalities that are helpful enough in accomplishing the benchmarks
set for developing the effective communication. For example, Dominos Pizza, which expanding
the business in international market, faced the significant challenges due to the cross-cultural
issues. The company started developing the social media campaign to reach out to the potential
customers. Communication through social media was quite beneficial since people are much
responsive and active in surfing internet (Ainsworth, 2013).
Another organisation, Wesfarmers, while expanding the market in china, faced the issues
with the language differences. Due to such cultural and language differences, the company had
been facing the recognizable loss in the profitability parameter (Becker, 2017). The management
decided to develop the group to bring the workers together. In addition to this, the company hired

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the translators to resolve the issues with the language barriers. It was helpful enough in work in
groups that brought the innovative business ideas from the people from diverse cultures.
4. Future Strategies
The case scenario identifies the potential challenges that have the clear impacts on the
organisational functionalities. This section of the study would address the challenging scenario
faced by this multinational company during the establishment of the communication process.
The issues are specified below:
a) Timely Communication to all clients and staffs
The organisation needs to communicate each of the functionalities with the staffs in a
transparent way. The multinational company has been facing the significant issues with the lack
of proper time management in communicating with the business clients and the associated staffs.
The messages are needed to be conveyed at the right time prior to start any functionality. In such
cases, the management requires transmitting the information regarding the decision to every
level. Using the email for transmitting the information would be much helpful. The information
regarding any decision or the services provided to the clients should be informed to the clients or
the staffs through emails (Zautra et al., 2017). Undertaking the proper Time Management prior
to make organisational decision would be helpful in mitigating such concern.
b) Communication Breakdown
The case study specifies that the multinational company has been facing trouble with the
business communication process. The continuous breakdown from top management to staffs in
the front line is the major concern that affects the business functionalities. It is notable that the

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top management requires communicating with the front line executives to clarify the business
objectives and goals. Accordingly, the management decides the necessary functionalities that
would be helpful in accomplishing those business objectives. The front line staffs may face
challenges in performing any functionality or sometimes they may need to communicate with the
top management for more specifications. In order to minimize the issues with the communication
breakdown, the arrangements of the weekly meeting would be beneficial for the company
(Taylor & Kent, 2014). The associated staffs can therefore communicate with the top
management and present their concerns. Similarly, the management can even communicate with
the staffs if there are any other changes of the requirements take place. This weekly meeting or
daily meeting process is quite effective in monitoring and measuring the performance progress.
c) Feedback from Clients
Generating the necessary feedback is quite favorable for the business process. Especially,
while delivering any service or product to customers, the company requires concentrating on the
quality parameter at the initial. Therefore, it is necessary for the company to gather the adequate
knowledge about the preferences of the customers or business clients. Extracting feedback from
the clients is thus one of the most fruitful ways of understanding the necessities and demands
(Limbu, Jayachandran & Babin, 2014). However, the case study signifies that the company has
been facing challenges in receiving feedback from the clients to understand the required quality
parameter of the service or products to be delivered. Some of the specific strategies can be
adopted to gather more responses and feedback from the clients. One of these strategies is
surveys, which is the most effective method of receiving feedback. The survey process is quite
easy to set up and send out. Moreover, the analysis of the responses is also much easier. Another
strategy to gather feedback is the feedback boxes or feedback mails (Goodall, Newman & Ward,

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2014). The clients can easily send mails or share their experiences as the feedback after using the
services or products. This method would be useful to generate the ideas about the necessary
amendments or the future preferences. Dealing with the clients directly and presenting the
interpersonal skills to communicate efficiently would be considerable factors of gathering
feedback. The company requires concentrating on these strategies to resolve the issues with the
feedback process
d) Issues around Local Language
In this case scenario, it is mentioned that this multinational company has the international
presence. The emerging issues with the local language are quite disruptive for the business
functions. The diverse language and the different cultural values are sometimes unapproachable
for the business staffs. It is to be implied that application of the interpersonal or non-verbal
communication skills would be quite beneficial for the company to communicate with the local
people (Luxton, Reid & Mavondo, 2015). Moreover, the use of the translator is also quite
favorable for continuing the business process. The implementation of these strategies would
effectively minimize the risks with the diverse language and cultures.
e) Cross Cultural Issues in Different Contexts
In spite of the business growth by expanding business internationally, the multinational
company has been facing the significant challenges due to the cross-cultural aspects. The
diverseness in the cultural aspects is the major concern since the company is associated with the
staffs from other countries. The issues persist since the staffs require dealing with the local
customers or clients. The business management deals with the demands and preferences of the
customers to deliver them satisfactory products or services. The cross-cultural aspects create the

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considerable challenge since the approaches are different in foreign countries. In order to deal
with the cross-cultural issues, the company can develop the group-based work functions. In this
group based works, people from different cultural background would receive the scope to work
with others (Goodall, Newman & Ward, 2014). The effective interpersonal communication skills
between them would help in bringing out the most innovative procedures of performing the
business functions. The development of the interpersonal communication skills would be
beneficial in this context.
f) Lack of Digital Literacy and Use of Social Media
It is notable that the growth of the social media usages has transformed the business
communication process in a drastic way. However, the focus on this case study implies that
many employees and customers from foreign countries are not quite aware of the social media
use. Moreover, they even lack the adequate knowledge about the digital mediums for the
communication purposes. It is one of the drawbacks for the business development. However, it
can be suggested that arranging the proper awareness program with proper demonstration of the
use of social media can facilitate the effective communication process. The business clients or
customers would receive the sufficient knowledge of using social media and digital means to
express their views and expectations in terms of purchasing the service or products (Zautra et al.,
2017). The social awareness program would thus be beneficial for the company to develop the
extensive knowledge about the effective communication process.
5. Implications
The study provides the in-depth analysis of the necessities of business communication.
The case study determines that the multinational company, in spite of the international presence,