National Culture in the Asian Market

Western Companies' Presence on the Asian Market

Cultural values play an important role in the way that businesses function in an environment. Even though they are particularly successful across the world, some companies have trouble pervading certain communities. It is thus essential for companies wanting to succeed in new markets to have a complex understanding of them. This way they become able to play an active role in these respective markets and avoid investing more resources than they are able to. Many western giants have attempted to expand to Asia, especially considering the large markets available there. Even with this, a great deal have discovered that their conventional attitudes are not enough to help them progress in Asian countries.

The expression "Google it" has become one of the most commonly-used sayings when considering people wanting to find out more about a particular something. However, it might not be met with as much enthusiasm in South Korea, considering that people there are accustomed to using a different search engine -- Naver. "Among the 35m South Koreans who use the internet every day, the nine-year-old search engine is wildly popular, accounting for 76% of internet searches, compared with less than 3% each for Yahoo! And Google." (Seeking Success) While often used for Google-like searches, Naver is more appreciated because of its versatility -- it provides a more complex experience and many compare it to Yahoo. The search engine is more similar to a portal, as it brings together features such as email, information about the stock market, hotel reviews, and a series of other concepts. In order to put things into perspective, one would have to learn more about Naver -- like the thing that Naver came up with the idea to present several categories as a consequence of a search process before Google did this. This makes it possible to understand how Google can humbly learn from foreign markets instead of using its power to overcome the masses in these markets.

Probably one of the most renowned case of an international company having trouble pervading Asian markets involves McDonalds and the Indian market. The company's most basic product worldwide is the beef burger. The fact that the cow is sacred in India means that most Indians are reluctant to consume any kinds of products associated with killing cows. "It is amazing to think that McDonalds (with its reputation for fast food serving up beef hamburgers as a main value meal) had not carefully considered this while trying to force open a new market where millions are vegetarian." (Rappa 115) There are apparently a series of lawsuits against the company on account of the fact that it used cow fat to cook several of the products it sells as being vegetarian.

In addition to holding great respect for cows and thus typically not eating cow meat products, Indians are also known for being great tea drinkers. Similar to McDonalds, Coca Cola did not consider the condition of the Indian market before getting actively involved in this country's beverages industry." The consumption of tea in India, for example, is an important and traditional pastime." (Rappa 115) As a result, many Indians prefer drinking tea to drinking Coca Cola, not to mention the fact that tea is also less expensive in comparison to the latter.

Multinational Corporations have experienced a series of impediments as a consequence of getting involved in Asian markets. What is especially surprising is that many of these companies have ignored the cultural factor when deciding to invest, this likely being owed to the success they came across in territories where Western values were more appreciated.