BBA211 - Cross-Cultural Business Report: Metrovacesa's Turkey Venture

This report analyzes Metrovacesa, a Spanish real estate developer, and its potential expansion into Turkey. The report begins with an executive summary and then provides background information on Metrovacesa, including its history, policies, strategy, mission, vision, and values. It also discusses the company's HR and marketing management approaches. The core of the report focuses on the issues Metrovacesa would face in Turkey, including social, technological, economic, environmental, political, legal, ethical, and security challenges. These challenges are examined in detail, considering the specific context of Turkey. The report concludes with a discussion and recommendation, suggesting that the company should invest in Turkey while carefully addressing the identified challenges. This report is designed to meet the requirements of a BBA211 assignment, focusing on cross-cultural business issues.

CROSS CULTURE
MANAGEMENT

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Part A
Executive Summary
This report will highlight the background of the Metrovacesa where it was found that this
company is doing effective business in 1918. They have been generating good economic
growth and hence they aim to expand in Turkey for future growth. Their policies and
strategies revolve around sustainability and innovation which supports their mission and
vision. In this report there is also illustration about the issues that Metrovacesa will have to
face while expanding in Turkey where it is shown that they will face issues like human
resource management and hiring of the skills. Ethics and security related challenges will also
be presented in front of the company which will have impact on the values of the company.
They will also face challenges in terms of ensuring the same growth as they expected when
the global economic stress has impact on the country’s economy also. In the last section of
the report a discussion and recommendation will be provided where it is suggested that
company should make investment in Turkey.

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Contents
Part A.....................................................................................................................................................1
Executive Summary...........................................................................................................................1
Part B.....................................................................................................................................................3
Introduction.......................................................................................................................................3
Company’s background.....................................................................................................................3
Chosen country..................................................................................................................................5
Part C.....................................................................................................................................................5
Issues the organisation would face....................................................................................................5
Part D....................................................................................................................................................7
Discussion and recommendation.......................................................................................................7
Conclusion.........................................................................................................................................8
References.............................................................................................................................................9

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Part B
Introduction
Business expansion has been one of the prime strategies that are followed by the companies
in order to improve their business performance. In expansion the biggest challenge that
companies had to face is related to the cross cultural management. There are different
organisational narratives along with many functions within the organisation that has impact
on the growth of the organisation. Along with this the country’s environment and the
organisational parameters have impact on the growth of the organisation. This report will
highlight the way in which organisation’s strategy, policy, vision and mission, HR and
marketing management have impact on the expansion in Turkey. It also provides the
information about the issues that the firm would have to face if they enter into Turkey.
Company’s background
Metrovacesa is one of the biggest property firms from Spain. This company is the largest
publicly traded real estate developer in the European region. The major business area that this
company operates in is Spain and France having 80% of the firm’s portfolio. This company
was established back in the year 1918 and the foundation in Madrid of the construction firm
Urbanizadora Metropolitana. The product ranges of this company constitute hotels, rented
and retirement accommodation, commercial property, shopping centres, and car parks. The
revenue of the firm is around €1.627 billion and the employee strength of the firm is around
1,187.
This Company has designed policies related to the privacy and sustainability of the firm. The
privacy policy of the company suggests that data related to the business operations and
especially the private data related to the stakeholders must be protected appropriately. They
have also sustainability policy that defines about the way in which they are going to handle
the sustainability issue within the firm (Metrovacesa, 2017). Because it is a policy hence most
of the operations within the firm are also designed according to this only so that long term
sustainability can be ensured. Policies are also designed in the areas of ethics and work
behaviour so that employees also work accordingly.

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In the base of this company’s strategy lies the innovation and sustainability. This company
tries to make strategies that allow providing homes to the people at lower rates and building
houses that are sustainable. They are promoting the development of the strategies that helps
in building houses that are environmentally sensitive and are customer centric. They are
continuously adding new technologies and materials in their business operations so that they
reduce the cost of construction and at the same time improve the design and quality of real
estate development. This not only enhances the durability of their constructed infrastructure
but also improves the areas in which construction can be done effectively (Metrovacesa,
2017). Strategy related to the development of the skills in the organisation is tackled with the
help of training. A high standard training is provided to the people who ensure that there is no
stoppage to the skill workforce in the workplace. The strategy such as incorporation of
innovation in different departments has impact on the way an organisation is performing.
Mission statement of the company suggests making homes for improving the lives of their
customers. On the other hand the vision of the company to become the national leader of the
residential market, the promotor chosen by the consumers, shareholders, communities and the
workers. For doing this they are continuously improving financial and operational outcomes
whilst respecting the highest business conduct standards. Both mission and vision of the
company is to improve the performance by providing best quality homes to the people while
ensuring that they are continuously improving the financial and operational results.
Values of the company are suggested with their philosophy which is simple i.e. hiring
passionate and diverse teams to generate a firm culture that works well. They give priority to
the ethics in their business model which helps them in safeguarding against the unethical
measures taken by the company (Metrovacesa, 2020).
Human resource management is also improving in the organisation on the daily basis and for
this they have designed a continuous development program. They also hire people that are
talented and at the same time they ensure that most of them are technically smart
(Metrovacesa, 2020). They have good reward plans that have increased their retention rate.
Marketing management in the organisation can be done in an effective manner. This is done
by the company with the help of digital marketing techniques. They are using traditional
marketing techniques along with digital marketing techniques to improve the overall
marketing management of the company (Metrovacesa, 2020). Their objective is to promote

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their sustainability and environment friendly business. This not only enhances their own
approach to business but also improves their impact on the minds of the people.
Finance policies or objectives of the company suggest utilising crowdfunding as a sales
channel (Online market places, 2019). They aim to add investors in their investor’s pool so as
to ensure that they are able to make new strategies and objectives in the areas like innovation.
Their objective is to improve the quality of the houses they are building and especially in
terms of their environment friendliness.
Chosen country
The country that this company aims to expand is Turkey. This is one of those countries that
are expanding at much faster rate. Due to this there are many types of infrastructure that are
in demands within the country. The increasing economic health in the country has positive
impact on the real estate development.
Part C
Issues the organisation would face
There are different types of issues that are faced by the organisation while they would expand
in Turkey. Some of these issues are:
 Social: It is a time of global stress where it is seen that people in the society is losing
their jobs and hence the unemployment rate is on the higher side. This is an issue for
the company as the demand for the residential infrastructure will reduce. However
there are people coming from different parts of the world hence there is an increasing
demand for international standards infrastructure. Company will also face challenges
in terms of the change in the culture between the two countries i.e. the country from
where this company was from and the country where they aim to go. They will have
to manage their ethics that suits the culture of Turkey (Coskun, 2011).
 Technological: There have been huge developments in the technology that is used in
the industry. They are also hiring people that are technologically skilled. This helps
the organisations to not only ensure that the infrastructure are of higher quality but
will also ensure that technology is able to meet the demands of the people.
Technology is also playing a major role in terms of marketing but the fact that there is
a big population in the country that are still not connected with the technology.

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 Economic: There are challenges confronting the economy of Turkey especially in
terms of the fact that they are facing the challenges related to increasing conflict in the
Mediterranean region. The tariff rates are also on the higher side and this has impact
on the cost of the company. This country is heavily dependent on European region for
the development of their economy and in the time when European economy is not
playing well (Hepsen and Vatansever, 2012). They will have to face issues in terms of
generating investments within Turkey especially for their sustainability related
strategies. Turkey has 13th largest GDP that will again support the company in its
development.
 Environmental: Turkey’s government has been strict over the exploitation of nature. It
is seen that in the construction highest amount of pollution is created. This company
will have to ensure that they are leading to lesser amount of pollution so as to avoid
any problems from the authority in Turkey. However there is lesser amount of skilled
people in Turkey when compared with the people in Spain this will not allow them to
manage the sustainability related plans in an effective manner (Gholipour Fereidouni
and Ariffin Masron, 2013).
 Political: Mediterranean region is facing many kinds of political conflicts especially
in terms of the fact that there are external forces that aims to take control in the region
(Vatin and Gamayunova, 2014). However turkey has a stable political environment
and hence the policies that are made by the country is favouring new investments
however the corruption is also higher in the country which will have negative impact
on the development of the company in the country.
 Legal: Legalities in the country have become strong especially in the areas like
pollution. The materials that will be used within the country there need to be
environment friendly. Legal environment has also changed in terms of the fact that
government have become strict over the rights of the people. The complexity of the
laws in the country will be an issue for the company.
 Ethical issues: It is to be understood that their parent nation have different culture.
Due to this it is possible that ethical issues arise if anything is managed improperly
(Coskun and Ertugrul, 2016). Ethical issues will also arise if the people are not hired
from the Turkey itself as they have the cultural understanding. Since there are not so
much skilled labourers in Turkey hence they might have to call engineers and skilled
technicians from Spain or other parts of the world. This can be an issue for the
company.

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 Security issues: Since the violence in the Turkey is increasing especially in terms of
the fact that there are large numbers of people that are in minority and the violence
against the minorities are increasing and this will impact on the security of the
employees that are working at the construction sites.
 Lack of local support: The real estate industry is not growing in Turkey as much as
other industries in the country is growing hence this will have impact on the growth of
the company. In the lack of local support in the form of small companies or bigger
firms, they will face problems in establishing them due to change in the culture. The
issues such as arranging resources within the market and working properly without
conflicts within the country will not be problem within the firm (Kaklauskas, et al
2011). The biggest challenge is in the areas like human resource management.
Part D
Discussion and recommendation
It is seen that Turkey is one of the biggest GDP in the world. This will promote the
development of the construction industry. This will support the growth of the company in the
country. An early expansion with the help of government will help them in improving their
growth in the country. Since people that are from different parts of the world are coming and
settling in Turkey hence they will require higher standard of infrastructure within the country
especially the public infrastructure. The proposed expansion could be better if they apply
training in an appropriate manner and since the multiculturalist training program needs to
develop. The attitude must of team oriented that will allow them to have a better control over
the expansion (Ozkan, Ozkan and Gunduz, 2012). The strategies such as technology and
innovation will help the company in giving them competitive advantage in the market
especially in terms of the fact that with the help of these two strategies they will reduce the
cost of operations which will help them in increasing their profits while ensuring that more
and more customers will come to them. It is also recommended that technological training is
provided to the people so that they do not face challenges in doing expansion in Turkey
especially in arranging the skills in the country that would favour their strategies.
Conclusion
From the above based report it can be concluded that Turkey is one of the perfect companies
to make expansion in the country. Metrovacesa concentrates on innovation and sustainability

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so as to serve their customers. In order to grow they will have to face certain issues in Turkey
especially related to availability of skilled employees and if they hire employees from other
parts of the world they might face challenges related to ethics. They need to work on
environment friendly material that will help in doing sustainable business in Turkey.

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References
Coskun, Y. and Ertugrul, H.M., 2016. House price return volatility patterns in Turkey,
Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir. Journal of European Real Estate Research, 9(1), pp.26-51.
Coskun, Y., 2011. The global financial crisis and the turkish housing market: is there a
success story?. Housing Finance International, 25(3), pp.6-14.
Gholipour Fereidouni, H. and Ariffin Masron, T., 2013. Real estate market factors and
foreign real estate investment. Journal of Economic Studies, 40(4), pp.448-468.
Hepsen, A. and Vatansever, M., 2012. Using hierarchical clustering algorithms for turkish
residential market. International Journal of Economics and Finance, 4(1), pp.138-150.
Kaklauskas, A., Kelpsiene, L., Zavadskas, E.K., Bardauskiene, D., Kaklauskas, G., Urbonas,
M. and Sorakas, V., 2011. Crisis management in construction and real estate: Conceptual
modeling at the micro-, meso-and macro-levels. Land Use Policy, 28(1), pp.280-293.
Metrovacesa, 2017. Nature, comfort, innovation: for a contemporary model of sustainability.
[Online] Available at: https://metrovacesa.com/en/blog/sostenibilidad. [Accessed on 17th Jan
2020]
Metrovacesa, 2020. Mvc. [Online] Available at: https://metrovacesa.com/en/work-with-us.
[Accessed on 17th Jan 2020]
Online market places, 2019. Metrovacesa will use crowdfunding as a sales channel. [Online]
Available at: https://www.onlinemarketplaces.com/articles/26500-metrovacesa-will-use-
crowdfunding-as-a-sales-channel. [Accessed on 17th Jan 2020]
Ozkan, F., Ozkan, O. and Gunduz, M., 2012. Causal relationship between construction
investment policy and economic growth in Turkey. Technological Forecasting and Social
Change, 79(2), pp.362-370.
Vatin, N. and Gamayunova, O., 2014. Real estate abroad: how to make the right choice.
In Applied Mechanics and Materials (Vol. 670, pp. 1612-1615). Trans Tech Publications.