Effective International Business Communication in India

This report examines international business communication within the context of India, focusing on the challenges and opportunities faced by foreign companies. It begins by introducing India as a developing country with a diverse culture and significant business potential. The report then applies Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory to understand Indian values and communication styles, covering power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, long-term orientation, and indulgence. A critical evaluation of cultural sensitivity in doing business in India highlights the importance of respecting local customs and building strong relationships. The analysis identifies various communication barriers, including cultural differences, language barriers, physical barriers, and perceptual barriers. Finally, the report proposes appropriate communication strategies and recommendations for foreign businesses to enhance their effectiveness and achieve success in the Indian market. Desklib provides access to this report and many other resources to support student learning.

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
COMMUNICATIONS
1

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Introduction of developing country.............................................................................................3
Application of theory of international and intercultural communication on India......................3
Evaluation of culture sensitivity in terms of doing business in India..........................................5
Analysis of different communication barriers experienced by foreign businesses in India........6
Appropriate communication strategies and relevant recommendations......................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10
2

INTRODUCTION
International business refers to exchange of products and services, capital and technology
or knowledge between the two countries or at global level so that it can earn huge profit margin.
It involves cross border transactions so business and employees working in the firm needs to
have complete knowledge about other language, culture and preferences to satisfy their
respective requirements in effective manner. Due to globalisation and increase in competition
level, companies are planning to expand their business operation so that they can achieve more
sales and profitability in future scenario. Moreover, communication is process of exchange of
ideas, view from one individual to another or company so that all task can be easily completed in
new market and it can gain competitive advantages. This report is based on UK based company
that is planning to move its production to some other location that is India but it is concerned
about the difference in cultural expectations (Czinkota, Ronkainen and Gupta, 2021). So, it will
include key points related to theories of international and intercultural communication such as
Hofstede pertaining to India. Report also critically evaluate the culture sensitivity in case of
operating business in new country, different communication barriers and strategies that could be
used by firm to grow and survive in new market.
Introduction of developing country
This report is based on one of the developing country named as India that is second most
population country after china and having popular democracy in the world. The country is
situated in South Asia and having multi culture society in which each religion is provided equal
opportunities or right to live. People of commonly known about two languages such as Hindi
and English that needs to be understand by the UK company that is planning to expand its
production location in developing country. So, due to high population the enterprise has
opportunity to grow its business on wide scale as there are numbers of individuals that company
can attract to earn high profitability and market share (Doh and et.al., 2017). Along with it, India
has world largest portal network thus products and services can be easily import and export
internationally so that need of millions of people living in different parts of the world can meet.
Application of theory of international and intercultural communication on India
In order to understand the international and intercultural communication between the
India and UK, Hofstede culture model will be applied. It is an model that consist of six
3

dimension that helps in understanding of independent preferences of one states of affairs as
compared to others. Therefore, the hofstede culture model can be applied for better
understanding of language, culture, preferences of India so that appropriate decision can be taken
for the benefits of company. Such as:
1. Power distance: It is the first dimension in which the India has score around 77 marks
which means that in the society there is high preferences of hierarchy or top to bottom.
The subordinates in the company follow the instruction provided by their respective boss
so that the task can be completed. Thus, it direct and guide all task and activities that
needs to be performed by the subordinate or more power is with superior or top
management and likewise delegate to bottom in the hierarchy of firm (Cavusgil, Knight,
and Riesenberger,2017).
2. Individualism: In this dimension the India has scored 48 so it emphasis on both
collective and individualism or have both traits. As most of the people in India are like to
live in team or coordinate manner and take decision that are good for all rather than
particular individuals. Likewise, while taking any decision opinion of elders, family
members, neighbour and friend has been consider by a person so that right decision can
be taken for benefits of all and itself (Ghauri, Strange and Cooke, 2021). At the same
time, there are some areas in which traits of individualism have been viewed such as the
society has been majorly dominated by the Hinduism. So they specified that life and birth
of people are in their respective hand thereby they always need to do good things.
3. Masculinity: The India is an masculinity society as the society is driven by high
competition, success and achievements. Such as in context of visual display India is
powerful and successful as the designer brand label goes with the advertisement success’s
There are number of lesson to be learn related to humanity and abstinences thus work is
centre of life for all individuals (Pucik, Evans and Björkman, 2017 ). People put more
and more efforts or hard work to complete the task and achieve higher growth and
success in future scenario so 56 dimension of muscularity.
4. Uncertainty Avoidance: Moreover, the India have medium low scale in context of
uncertainty avoidance index as people do not feel driven or take action to accept the new
idea. So, they make use of word “adjust” and stating that nothing is impossible in life and
4

through adjusting all circumstances and adverse situation can be overcome. Thus India,
have score only 40 on dimension in uncertainty avoidance.
5. Long term orientation: This is an dimension that helps in understanding whether the
society maintaining link with its past in terms of dealing with challenges of current and
future. The people of Indian society lay emphasis on India culture, tradition and ethical
values thus respect elder decision (Buckley, Enderwick and Cross, 2018). They states that
karma is result of all issue or problems that are face by people living in India. So, people
needs to have good karma in order to live a better lifestyle, while the score is 51.
6. Indulgence: Out of all the above discussed dimension, it has most lowest score that is
only 26 that means the people does not have ability to have control over their desire,
impulses and emotion. Thus it have tendency to pessimism and cynicism or in another
words people gratitude, respect each and other point of view while taking any decision
(Denysenko and et.al., 2019). In addition to this, they are not much interested to have
leisure and wastage of time, as they are highly dedicated and ready to work or make best
utilisation of their skills, capabilities and knowledge.
Evaluation of culture sensitivity in terms of doing business in India
Culture sensitivity is the manner in which people interact with other individuals through
respecting their values, perspective and culture. The UK based company while planning to grow
its business in India needs to evaluate the culture sensitivity as it will helps in better
understanding of people point of view. Likewise, the people of India are highly sensitive towards
their culture and ethical values; they like to be give and take respect, gratitude and recognition to
other person. Moreover, they also respect other culture, try to learn from it and apply the same in
the life thereby it is known as country of having mix culture and people living together having
different religion (Adamczyk, 2017). Across the India, people trust each other than system or
procedure, they like to build and retained strong relationship with other through avoiding the
chance of conflict.
At the same time the people living in India, gives more value to hierarchy which might
impact on smooth operation of business. As it is not possible for company that having a mix or
division organisation structure. The people also hesitate to criticize their boss thus they easily
accept the ideas or order that are given by the boss to be implemented in the firm so that it can
gain competitive advantages. So, company in order to retained larger market share in India
5

value helps in maintaining peace and equality in society thereby attracting more number of
tourist to visit the place in order to have fun and enjoyment (Mautner and Rainer, 2017). Thereby
the cultural diversity, unity and values can Helps Company in having highly talented, dedicated
and determined employees that can work for its growth and expansion in international market so
that end goals can be achieved.
Analysis of different communication barriers experienced by foreign businesses in India
A communication barriers refers to anything that prevents us from understanding and receiving
the messages of others that are utilised in order to convey the information, thoughts and the ideas
while communicating with others. While setting a foreign business within the India, the firms
and their employees have to face certain barriers while communicating with each other. For any
kind of communication to be successful, it is important that the receiver attributes the similar
meaning to the message as intended by the sender of the message. But it has been identified that
all acts are not successful and perfect in nature. The barriers that may act upon any of the
elements of the communication process i.e. the sender and receiver. The most common barrier
for both the sender organization as well as the receiver firm can be the absence of common frame
of reference which often leads to the breakdown of communication in any particular situation
(Sreehari, 2021). The culture is basically acts as a major barrier that creates differences between
the firms and their environment. The distance between two different cultures is the toughest
obstruction for business. A culture is a way of life of a group of people which are the behaviours,
beliefs, symbols and values that they accept generally without even thinking about them and that
are passed along by communication and imitation from one generation to another. There is a
huge difference among the national as well as international barrier. Another barrier is the
language barrier as the foreign language is totally different from the Indian language. Most of the
people living in India are unable to understand the foreign languages and because of the cultural
differences, the people or expatriates are also facing certain difficulties while doing their work
from outside within India.
Due to the language barriers, the translators are required when doing business transactions in
international trade. Actually the language barriers are the ones that arises the confusion in
contract terms which consistently requires huge amount of accuracy. It also creates
misinterpretation of words among the employees that are working within the organization.
6

Physical barriers also acts their major role as this barrier are related to the environment and
natural conditions that acts an obstruction within the communication while sending and receiving
messages from one another. Organizational atmosphere or interior workspace design problems
along with technological barriers are some of the physical barriers that are faced by the foreign
organizations while establishing their business within India. The geographical distances are the
major reason that obstacles to communicate as larger distance means requirement of more
technical channels. In order to avoid such kind of barriers the receiver and sender both requires
additional machines which acts as a medium for encoding and decoding the messages. Perceptual
barriers are also acts as mental blocks that have been created by the firms because of the
different perceptions that the employees within an organization towards certain people, situations
or events around themselves are different in nature (Tamunomiebi and John-Eke, 2020). It
creates problems when the perceptions of receiver and senders are not similar in nature, then it
can be a significant source of barrier in the whole procedure of communication while doing
business with some other country.
Appropriate communication strategies and relevant recommendations
For the firms in order to run efficiently, the organizations have to implement clear
communication strategies within the organization in order to make the process of communication
most effective in nature. Communication strategies are basically action plans in order to improve
communication within the organization especially when both the firms are situated in diversified
regions. Effective communication enables the team members in order to build strong relationship
and optimistically contribute their part towards the company culture and thus their overall
growth within the competitive market place. In order to avoid certain language and culture
related barriers the most effective strategy is to provide proper training sessions for the
employees of the organization. Effective training sessions enable the firm managers to create an
optimistic environment within the workplace (Veltsos and Hynes, 2021). Meeting with
employees of the organization on a daily basis also acts as a good strategy to raise the
communication level within an organization.
Another strategy related to the effective communicative atmosphere within the workplace
are hiring the local employees within the firm for the betterment of the organization also helps to
eradicate the various barriers that are available because of the expansion of the business
7

establishment from one country to another. This particular strategy enables the employees to
understand the situations in better way even without any language barriers. This situation even
does not require any kind of translators in order to resolve the situations in appropriate manner.
In order to reduce certain kind of activities or communication failure along with any other
barriers, companies have to select their employees in most careful manner. Choosing an effective
and best method of communication enables them to understand and build effective
communication skills within the employees of the firm whether they are expatriate for the firm or
the local people who are doing the tasks with the help of their abilities and talents. Using the
time in wisely manner can able the organization to keep team building spirit strong and giving
each and everybody an opportunity to get to know each other in most efficient manner. Team
bonding is an effective way to improve communication channels within the firm. Tea and coffee
breaks are the effective informal ways to enhance the communication within the workplace.
Conduct team building activities also helps an organization to enhance their productivity level
completely. Creation of structural activities such as team lunch, games, group meetings, Puzzle
solving activities or any other outdoor activity helps the employees to collaborate and
communicate with each other in most appropriate manner (Santalova and et.al., 2017). Always
encouraging two way feedbacks helps the employees to feel motivated and important for the firm
as well. This creates a smooth give and take work environment along with generation of positive
results within the firm. Apart from this one on one conversations also helps them to build and
enhance their communication part while handling whether the local as well as expatriate people.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be concluded that companies in order to grow and sustain
their business operation in new market must have complete knowledge of their culture, language
and taste and preferences. As it helps them in finding alternative method that could be used to
build and retained strong relationship with customers so that company can enjoy higher profit
margin. The report has also summarised that there are range of communicational barriers that
company find while expanding in developing countries such as physical, language, culture and
perception barriers and many others. So, the strategies that could be used by the firm to eradicate
the barriers is training employees about the culture and language of other countries or hiring
local individuals to delivering services. Therefore, at last it can be concluded that the study has
8

helped in understanding the way business can be managed effectively in international market to
achieve the end goals.
9

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Adamczyk, M., 2017. The importance of cultural differences in international business. The
Central European Review of Economics and Management (CEREM), 1(2), pp.151-170.
Buckley, P. J., Enderwick, P. and Cross, A.R. eds., 2018. International business. Oxford
University Press.
Cavusgil, S. T., Knight, G. and Riesenberger, J., 2017. International Business: The New
Realities, Global Edition.
Czinkota, M. R., Ronkainen, I. A. and Gupta, S., 2021. International business. Cambridge
University Press.
Denysenko, M and et.al., 2019. International regulatory experience business activity. Research
and Innovation.
Doh, J and et.al., 2017. International business responses to institutional voids.
Ghauri, P., Strange, R. and Cooke, F.L., 2021. Research on international business: The new
realities. International Business Review, 30(2). p.101794.
Klochkov, Y., and et.al., 2017, December. Development of methods for business modeling.
In 2017 International Conference on Infocom Technologies and Unmanned Systems (Trends and
Future Directions)(ICTUS) (pp. 366-369). IEEE.
Mautner, G. and Rainer, F. eds., 2017. Handbook of business communication: Linguistic
approaches (Vol. 13). Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG.
Pucik, V., Evans, P. and Björkman, I., 2017. The global challenge: International human resource
management.
Santalova, M., and et.al., 2017. Corporate culture of commercial organization as an effective
management tool. In Integration and Clustering for Sustainable Economic Growth (pp. 101-110).
Springer, Cham.
Sreehari, P., 2021. Essential Soft Skills for Workplace Success. REVISTA GEINTEC-GESTAO
INOVACAO E TECNOLOGIAS, 11(4). pp.2648-2654.
10

Tamunomiebi, M.D. and John-Eke, E.C., 2020. Workplace Diversity: Emerging Issues in
Contemporary. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social
Sciences, 10(2).
Veltsos, J.R. and Hynes, G.E., 2021. Managerial communication: Strategies and applications.
SAGE Publications, Incorporated.
11