Over the past five decades, in order to take advantage of potential profits, companies have expanded abroad. Trading on an international scale provides these companies with a number of challenges relating to the complexities of different international markets. These differences can be very distinctive but it's sometimes smaller distinctions that can catch managers off guard. Managers must take into consideration such differing factors as the language, social/cultural, political, legal, economic, technological and many more that exist between the home and foreign countries. I have chosen four of these topics to discuss, giving examples of real world examples to illustrate my points.
Language barriers also come in to play when considering expanding into foreign markets. As well as the spoken or verbal forms of communication there are also the non verbal differences that sometimes may be disregarded. Non verbal forms of communication include gestures, body language and semiotics, which refer to the underlying meaning of signs.
The Wall Street Journal
Front page of the first issue of The Wall Street J...
English: THE KREMLIN, MOSCOW. President Putin with...There are also issues when it comes to directly translating languages. When Good Housekeeping magazine was introduced into the Japanese market there were problems with the translation of important words proved to be a problem. The direct translation to domestic duties, kaji is also used in reference to servant's duties. To overcome this problem the word, Good was printed so it was much larger than the word, Housekeeping on the front cover. Another example of how differences in language can adversely affect a product's viability in a foreign market is the situation face by Colgate in Spanish speaking countries. The direct translation of Colgate is a phase that translates to "go hang yourself". Although humorous this is a case in point of how language should be considered before entering overseas markets.
Culture would have to be one of the most obvious distinctions across borders. Hofstede...