Amidst cultural blunders from all corners of the globe, 'CQ' is perhaps the most overlooked ingredient for global business success
There are also endless examples of companies making blunders by not thinking through translations of their marketing slogans and product names across cultures.
Image: Shutterstock
We’ve all heard stories of cringe-worthy cultural faux pas in the world of business. It could be a Western business executive who accepts a business card from a Japanese counterpart and proceeds to put it in his back pocket — an action that is seen as highly offensive in Japan. Or a male executive travelling to an Islamic country who reaches out to shake hands with a woman who is wearing a hijab — which is considered, to say the least, inappropriate.
It’s not just individual executives who are subject to such cultural errors. Large, sophisticated multinationals are not immune. In 2018, Dolce & Gabbana posted three videos on Chinese social media to promote its latest fashion show. The videos showed Asian women dressed lavishly in D&G clothing eating pizza, spaghetti and cannoli with chopsticks. At the same time, a voice could be heard mispronouncing English words in a way that mocked the Chinese way of speaking. While the ads were removed within 24 hours, the blowback was intense, and the brand was damaged significantly.
Elsewhere, Walmart has faced difficulties in its German operations. The company required its sales associates to smile at customers — a practice that had always worked well in the North American context. What they didn’t realize is that this practice makes German shoppers feel extremely uncomfortable, because in their culture, smiling at a stranger is viewed as flirting. Walmart also had to drop its famous "Give me a W" chant during morning meetings at its German operations. As one union representative put it: “People found the practice very strange. Germans just don’t behave that way.”
There are also endless examples of companies making blunders by not thinking through translations of their marketing slogans and product names across cultures. The marketing of Italian mineral water Traficante became an instant hit in the Spanish underground, as the name translates into “drug dealer.” In China, the famous KFC “Finger Lickin’ Good” campaign became “Eat Your Fingers Off.” And the American Dairy Association’s “Got Milk?” campaign translated into Spanish as, “Are You Lactating?” Perhaps most egregiously, Ford Motor Company’s “Every Car Has a High-Quality Body” campaign translated into “Every Car Has a High-Quality Corpse.”
A lack of understanding and sensitivity to cross-cultural differences have cost companies dearly, both in direct financial costs and in terms of reputational capital. And this is set to grow as cross-cultural business collaborations continue to increase. Already, nearly 90 per cent of corporate employees in OECD countries have completed work as part of an international team. As a result of all this, firms face ever-increasing competitive pressure to hire individuals with cross-cultural competencies. Achieving such competency is not easy. Understanding culture has been compared to an iceberg: the majority of what constitutes a culture is located below the waterline, undetectable to the human eye. Yes, culture includes objectively observed features like food, language, dance, art, music, games and sports. But it extends far beyond observable features to include perceptions, beliefs, roles, social expectations, behaviour and values.
[This article has been reprinted, with permission, from Rotman Management, the magazine of the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management]