Business Cultural Report: Spain and Hong Kong Market

This report offers a comprehensive cultural analysis of the Spanish market, contrasting it with the business culture of Hong Kong. The introduction emphasizes the importance of cultural understanding in shaping business strategies and decisions, especially when expanding into new markets. The report delves into Spain's cultural background, including historical influences, religious beliefs, and family structures, highlighting how these factors impact consumer behavior and marketing approaches. A comparative analysis of business cultures between Spain and Hong Kong is presented, focusing on greetings, dress codes, and negotiation styles to illustrate the key differences. The report also applies Hofstede's cultural framework to assess Spain across five dimensions: Power Distance, Individualism vs. Collectivism, Masculinity vs. Femininity, Uncertainty Avoidance, and Long-Term Orientation. The analysis provides insights into how these cultural dimensions influence organizational structures, employee relations, and decision-making processes. The report concludes by reiterating the significance of cultural awareness in achieving business success in Spain, summarizing the key findings and offering recommendations for companies to adapt their strategies to the local cultural context.

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MARKET CULTURAL REPORT OF A COUNTRY
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6/24/2019
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MARKET CULTURAL REPORT OF A COUNTRY 1
Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Cultural analysis of Spain................................................................................................................3
The comparative business culture of Spain and Hong Kong...........................................................4
Hofstede’s culture of Spain.............................................................................................................6
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9
References......................................................................................................................................10

MARKET CULTURAL REPORT OF A COUNTRY 2
Introduction
Culture is social norms and behavior found among humans that affect the key activities
conducted in that area. This also reflects corporates and business plans and strategies, as culture
is considered one of the key elements that will change the business decision to a great extent.
The reason being, these are the factors that are different for each nation and community that will
affect the customer’s purchase decision. The report’s purpose is to assess the cultural difference
of the home country that is Hong Kong and host nation that is Spain. This would be discussed for
implementation of plan including operating business in Spain for which the report will discuss
the cultural analysis of Spain that will influence the business decision when compared to Hong
Kong. Cultural factors would be analyzed using one of the popular cultural theories that are
Hofstede’s cultural framework. This framework would include five major dimensions that would
be considered as the basis for critically analyzing the culture of Spain to assess what companies
can do to make their business successful in Spain.

MARKET CULTURAL REPORT OF A COUNTRY 3
Cultural analysis of Spain
Spain’s culture is based on various influences by history that was initially based on Iberian
culture and pre roman Celtic culture. In the region, the Spanish culture has been based on ancient
Romans as the Hispania is created by Rome as a legal, political, and admiration unit. The nation
found to have mixed cultures. Some residents are identified to be Spanish, Galician first, Basque
or Catalan. Considering the unique cultural factors include religions and believes of the country,
94 percent of the people in the nation are following roman catholic religion, where the family has
found to be the base for their social structure that includes extended family and the nuclear
family. This will provide financial and social support; this will affect the marketing activities of
the company in the nation. The family support and the connectivity in the family are very
important for the people in Spain, this reflects that the purchasing decision of the potential
customer will large, let based on the closed ones and family members perception and believes.
As per the recent transformation in et culture and society are the changed roles of women, which
plays a vital role in marketing activities decision of the company (Allen, 2017).
The women used to be the housewife’s or homemakers but with transformation and major
change the last two decades have found the women of the society to change their roles and have
been entered into education. Moreover, the women have entered into the professions and
industry that had the perception of being conducted by men or were male dominant. It has been
observed that the young women especially who are unmarried are very much independent, which
could be targeted by the companies depending on their products and services offered.
Considering the socialization, Spain’s children are increasingly prized and are raised with the
value to have respect for their elders and obedience that may be reflected in the corporate culture

MARKET CULTURAL REPORT OF A COUNTRY 4
of the company. When the students have completed their secondary education, they generally
enter into either further education or work force or go for the vocational training (commisceo-
globa, 2019).
The comparative business culture of Spain and Hong Kong
Cultures of the two nations are majorly different where the host country to analyses is Spain and
the home nation is Hong Kong the key differences in the business culture of the two nations are
based on
1. Greetings and meetings
The key character that is being followed in Spain related to the greeting and meetings are
shaking hands when first meet or introduced and after the relation has been formed then
personnel may pat or embrace one another on the shoulder. Moreover, female friends in the
nation kiss one another on cheeks while initiating with left and both cheeks side. In the formal
occasion, people generally called one another Don or Dona and addressing with the first name
afterward. However, some med also uses bother their handed shake where the left hand of the
person are placed over the right arm of the greeting person (expatica, 2019).
Compared to the business culture of Hong Kong, where people greet their business personnel’s
with slight low and a handshake, as the respect depending upon the hierarchy that affects the
business culture of Hong Kong. Moreover, people always address the individuals with their title
of the profession like doctor and then their surname. Moreover, one aspect that is to be
remembered is that the physical contact is rare, where as it was identified that in Spain there is

MARKET CULTURAL REPORT OF A COUNTRY 5
physical contact like placing hands or others arm or back dap (hofstede-insights, country-
comparison/hong-kong,spain, 2019).
2. Dress code
The dressing style in the corporate office in Spain is the stylish dress and at the same time, it
must be conservative, and this is quite similar to the dress style that is popular in rest of Europe.
However, both men and women find important to carry elegant accessories (strongabogados,
2019).
Where as in Hong Kong dresses of the culture include the colors of the dresses like red is
considered as the luck color but the people in the corporate prefers to have black color shirts,
suits and ties and try to stick to the formal dress code (internations, 2019).
3. Negotiations and meetings
Spain culture considering the meeting include the mandatory appointments that must be made in
advance through telephonic conversation and also reminding through the writing a week before
the meeting. The agendas of the meeting tend to be considered but not always found to be strictly
adhered to or followed in the meeting. The language is the key factor and difference in both the
culture that is the use of English and Spanish. In addition to this, the meeting is not necessarily to
reach out to a decision it may be for the exchange of ideas or some discussion over the topic.
Moreover, culture exists that various people might speak or put on their ideas speaking at once.
Another key considering in the business of culture of Spain includes negotiation, this includes
ranking and hierarchy are considered to be relevant in negotiation and one needs to deal with the
similar ranking people by their own (worldbusinessculture, 2019). The key importance is been
given to Spaniards on the character of the individual with whom the business is conducted.

MARKET CULTURAL REPORT OF A COUNTRY 6
Considering the decision-making, which are in the hands of the top of the company in Spain as
the nation is based on a hierarchal basis. In addition, the employee may never interact with the
people that are taking the actual decision. Before the negotiation, it is essential that the individual
reach out to the verbal understanding and the formal contract be created afterwards
(businessculture, 2019).
Through meeting and negation it can be said that the difference in both the nation is not too
noticeable as both nations are following the hierarchical format that means the decision making
is generally from the top management in both the nations.
Hofstede’s culture of Spain
Hofstede’s framework is created in order assess the culture of the nation based on key five
dimensions. The five frameworks are as follows
Figure 1: (Source: (hofstede-insights, country/spain, 2019)

MARKET CULTURAL REPORT OF A COUNTRY 7
1. Power distance
This dimension works with the belief that the people in the society are not always found to be
equal the score for this dimension of the power distance that reflects high on the scoring. This
depicts that Spain is the hierarchical society that will influence business decision making and
various activities while conducting business in Spain. The organizational structure of the
company in this nation needs to follow a vertical hierarchy system. This also depicts that the
personnel in the organization are ready to obey what they are expected from their seniors.
Moreover, the centralization method of decision-making and leadership is been adopted by the
organization in the nation and the autocratic leadership is followed that would be ideal in this
nation due to the suitability (Alvesson, 2016).
2. Individualism v/s Collectivism
This dimension reflects the degree of interdependence that society tends to maintain between
their members. This is the self-image of the people that they are inclined towards the I or We
factors. As per the analysis Spain, dimensional score is 51 that is collectivist society. This culture
of the nation indicates that they prefer to consider their family and relation while making any
major decision. As already discussed in the previous section, it can be said that the people in the
nation care about their closed one and the family members. The companies in this nation must
promote teamwork as they would prefer to perform for their team, and strong motivational level
must be maintained (worldbusinessculture, 2019).
3. Achievement versus nurturing
The score for this dimension as presented in the graph above is low which reflect that the
nurturing society of the nation are dominated or inclines towards the quality of life and caring.

MARKET CULTURAL REPORT OF A COUNTRY 8
Through this analysis, it can be said that the company conducting business in this nation must
consider the motivational factors, maintaining work life balance for their employees
(CultureWizard, 2018).
4. Uncertainty avoidance
This dimension reflects the level of risk the personnel is ready to have and the level of threated
the employee feel in the company. The score of dimension is 86; it has been identified that Spain
is the noisiest nation in the world. Individuals in this nation prefer to have rules and change does
cause stress among the people. This means that the company must apply change management
effectively in order to avoid resistance to change in the organization in this nation and
confrontation is also avoided (Anitha, 2019).
5. Long term orientation
This dimension explains the ways society needs to maintain dealing with the future and present
challenge. The score of the dimension for Spain is 48 that reflects that it is the normative nation
and depicts that individuals do not have higher consideration regarding the future and prefer to
live in the movement. It is recommended for the organization to have a clear structure and
provide a relaxed approach and free to do work like timing restraint must not be strict to keep the
people motivated and complete their work (hofstede-insights, country/spain, 2019).

MARKET CULTURAL REPORT OF A COUNTRY 9
Conclusion
From the report, it can be highlighted that culture is considered to be one of the key elements that
will change the business decision to a great extent as these are the factors that are different for
each nation and community which will affect the customer’s purchase decision. Spain’s culture
is based on various influences by history that was initially based on Iberian culture and pre
roman Celtic culture. As per the recent transformation in the culture and the society are the
changed roles of women, which plays a vital role in marketing activities decision of the
company. The women have entered into the professions and industry that had the perception of
being conducted by men or were male dominant. The key character that is being followed in
Spain related to the greeting and meetings are shaking hands when first meet
Cultural factors would be analyzed using one of the popular cultural theories that are Hofstede’s
cultural framework. Power distance reflects high on the scoring. Individualism v/s Collectivism
dimension reflects the degree of interdependence that a society tends to maintain between their
members. As per the analysis Spain, dimensional score is 51 that is collectivist society. The score
of Long term orientation dimension for Spain is 48 that reflects that it is the normative nation
and depicts that individuals do not have higher consideration regarding the future and prefer to
live in the movement.

MARKET CULTURAL REPORT OF A COUNTRY 10
References
Allen, D. (2017). Recruitment and retention across cultures. Annual Review of Organizational
Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 153.
Alvesson, M. (2016). Organizational culture. New York: Sage.
Anitha, J. (2019). Role of Organisational Culture and Employee Commitment in Employee
Retention. ASBM Journal of Management, 9(1).
businessculture. (2019). business-culture-in-spain. Retrieved from
https://businessculture.org/southern-europe/business-culture-in-spain/
commisceo-globa. (2019). spain-guide. Retrieved from
https://www.commisceo-global.com/resources/country-guides/spain-guide
CultureWizard. (2018). 5 Strategies for Working in Cross-Cultural Virtual Teams. Retrieved
from CultureWizard: https://www.rw-3.com/blog/5-strategies-for-working-in-cross-
cultural-virtual-teams
expatica. (2019). employment-basics/business-culture. Retrieved from expatica:
https://www.expatica.com/es/employment/employment-basics/business-culture-102512/
Ghaderi, A. (2016). Importance of teamwork, communication and culture on failure‐to‐rescue in
the elderly. British Journal of Surgery, 103(2), e47.
hofstede-insights. (2019). country/spain. Retrieved from
https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country/spain/
hofstede-insights. (2019). country-comparison/hong-kong,spain. Retrieved from
https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison/hong-kong,spain/
internations. (2019). hong-kong-business-culture. Retrieved from
https://www.internations.org/hong-kong-expats/guide/29456-jobs-business/hong-kong-
business-culture-15930
strongabogados. (2019). business-culture. Retrieved from strongabogados:
https://www.strongabogados.com/business-culture.php
worldbusinessculture. (2019). spain/culture. Retrieved from worldbusinessculture:
https://www.worldbusinessculture.com/country-profiles/spain/culture/