International Business Communication: Tesco in the Nigerian Market

This report delves into the realm of international business communication, exploring its significance and application in a global context. It begins with an introduction to international business and communication, followed by an overview of Nigeria as a developing country. The report then examines various theories of international and intercultural communication, particularly focusing on Hofstede's cultural dimensions to understand cultural differences and their impact on business operations. It further discusses the importance of cultural sensitivity in international business and identifies different communication barriers that can hinder effective communication. The report also outlines effective communication strategies for business expansion, using Tesco's potential operations in Nigeria as a case study. The conclusion summarizes the key findings, emphasizing the role of communication strategies in achieving business success in international markets.

International business communication

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION OF INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS AND COMMUNICATION..................1
INTRODUCTION TO DEVELOPING COUNTRY......................................................................1
THEORIES OF INTERNATIONAL AND INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION...............1
CULTURAL SENSITIVITY WHEN DOING BUSINESS............................................................2
DIFFERENT COMMUNICATION BARRIERS...........................................................................3
COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES..............................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................4

l壱INTRODUCTION OF INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS AND
COMMUNICATION
International business refers to the trade of goods and the services to different countries
at transactional scale. International business are of three types Export trade, import trade,
Entreport trade. International business includes the export and imports of goods, intellectual
property rights, licensing and franchising across different nations (Alleyne, 2016).
International Communications refers to the communication that occurs on the
international borders. It helps in sharing the information on borders through verbal and non-
verbal messages. It is concerned with the interaction of business-to-business, non-governmental,
people- to-people at global levels.
l壱INTRODUCTION TO DEVELOPING COUNTRY
Nigeria is territory that has witnessed the rise and decline in the different empires since
AD600. By combining the territory of local kingdoms and chief doms, new Nigeria colony is
created. In 1914 capital at Lagos was established (Casmir, 2013). From British Nigeria won the
independence in 1960 and they were challenged to unite the diverse group of the people.
l壱THEORIES OF INTERNATIONAL AND INTERCULTURAL
COMMUNICATION
Hofstede culture use to understand the different culture across the company and to find
the ways the business done across different culture. It helps in distinguishing the different
culture and their impact on business (García-Gavilanes, Mejova and Quercia, 2014).
Power Distance Index – It helps in determining the power and inequality tolerated and
divided into the two the high power distance index and the low power distance index. In high
power distance index culture accepts inequity and the power differences and show high respect
for rank and authority like TESCO company in Nigeria shows high respect as they believe that
the power is divided equally.
Collectivism & Individualism- In this model can find what culture is followed by the
country on the basis of Individualism and collectivism like in Nigeria the culture followed is
collectivism society as people have to look after their families. According to the TESCO
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company collectivism is followed as all the problems and losses occurred all have to suffer no
individual can alone handle (Martin and Chaney, 2012).
Masculinity vs. Femininity- In this model the masculinity and the femininity followed
by the countries as we can say in Nigeria The masculinity is followed they believe only in the
achievements, material rewarded to them is the only state of matter for them. In TESCO
company masculinity is followed as they do not help each other the opportunities are give only
to the person who is at higher position which show demotivation to the person.
Uncertainty avoidance index- it tells at what extent the risk and ambiguity can be
tolerated, this can be divided into two – high uncertainty and low uncertainty index. Basically
the culture of Nigeria follow high uncertainty index as they are not challenging enough and
company TESCO also follow high uncertainty as they are not able to face enough challenges and
the companies may some hoe shut down like if TESCO companies face challenges due to
competitors and they do not take the decision on time then there are chances that company will
suffer from huge losses (Swartz and Yazdani, 2012).
Long term orientation vs. short-term orientation- This model helps in determining
weather the company will have long term benefit or the short term benefit like if the company
have long- term orientation they believe in future and will delay in the short term success they
focused only on the future benefit and this culture is followed in the Nigeria they believe in long
term . In TESCO company they believe in long term benefit occur so that they get the desired
results and have quick profits in future.
Indulgence vs. Restraint – This models refers to the society to fulfil all its desires of the
society. Indulgence means the society allow free gratification and enjoy the quality of life and
having fun where as in restraint the strict rules and regulations are to be followed . When we
compare for the nation in Nigeria, Indulgence is followed as in indulgence there is strict rules
and regulations are to be followed in nation. In TESCO company indulgence is followed as the
people do not take the stress they enjoy their life and spend the money as they wish.
l壱CULTURAL SENSITIVITY WHEN DOING BUSINESS
The cultural sensitivity is regarding to aware about cultural differences and also
similarities among people which exist without assigning them value. Cultural sensitivity is
necessary while conducting at global level. It is necessary for the United Kingdom country to
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understand culture of the Nigeria if it want to be successes at international level. Understanding
and also knowing regarding the cultural differences is necessary skills to success in business
(Thussu, 2018).
l壱DIFFERENT COMMUNICATION BARRIERS
There are several barriers to the communication and these may be occur at any of stage in
process of communication. Cultural barrier in the communication occurs when the
communication happens among two various cultural backgrounds. Different barriers are mention
below:
Language barriers- All teams have common language but when some of the people are
fluent than the others. The language barriers arise the complexity in understanding the
unfamiliar accents.
Stereotypes and Prejudices- Stereotypes is process of developing picture of whole
picture and also overgeneralising people belonging to similar culture.
l壱COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES
Communication is defined as an imperative aspect which is effective for the businesses to
aiding the suitable support to managing operations, therefore, here are assorted communication
strategies for expansing business of Tesco within Nigeria like Determining the promotional mix,
Developing the most effective message, selecting effective media, determining the extent of
world wide standardization, Establishing the necessary controls to aid in attaining worldwide
marketing objectives (Wiedemann and Meyen, 2016). Therefore, these are the effective
communications strategies that could helpful for for the business to gain progression and
development. Although, it has also been recommended to Tesco to determine the cultural aspects
and be focused over domestic hiring for developing the operations of the business effectively.
l壱CONCLUSION
As per the detailed analysis of the project it has been concluded that, in the modern era
the primary obligation of the business is to expand within wider level to increase the profitability
of the business, here the Hofstede model is implemented to evaluate the culture dimension of the
country to find the best place to expand. The project also states that, here are different issues are
faces by the business during expansion like cultural barriers, language issue and so on. In
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addition to this, the suitable communication strategies are also supportive in providing better
opportunities for the business and finding the ways to gain more progression.
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l壱REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Alleyne, M. D., 2016. International power and international communication. Springer.
Casmir, F. L. ed., 2013. Ethics in intercultural and international communication. Routledge.
García-Gavilanes, R., Mejova, Y. and Quercia, D., 2014, February. Twitter ain't without
frontiers: economic, social, and cultural boundaries in international communication.
In Proceedings of the 17th ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work
& social computing (pp. 1511-1522).
Martin, J. S. and Chaney, L. H., 2012. Global business etiquette: A guide to international
communication and customs. ABC-CLIO.
Swartz, M. L. and Yazdani, M. eds., 2012. Intelligent tutoring systems for foreign language
learning: The bridge to international communication (Vol. 80). Springer Science &
Business Media.
Thussu, D. K., 2018. International communication: Continuity and change. Bloomsbury
Publishing.
Wiedemann, T. and Meyen, M., 2016. Internationalization through Americanization: The
expansion of the international communication Association's leadership to the
world. International journal of communication. 10. p.21.
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