Expansion of business to new countries: JC Decaux (2006)

Résumé du document

Expanding to new countries is nowadays an important stake for companies, considering the cost benefit they can get from this. Economies of scales, of scope permit them to drive their cost down and thus to be more and more competitive on the global market. But this world expansion in a context of general globalisation requires a precise knowledge about the host country, above all on its culture and habits. An objective knowledge of a country's culture is an essential point to assure success for our company in culturally different countries. For Geert Hofstede, who is the international reference in matter of Cross Cultural Management, culture is "the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another" (Hofstede, 2001, Page 9). The definition of Wikipedia confirms: Culture is "the way people live in accordance to beliefs, language, history, or the way they dress".

Extraits

[...] It is to know that the previous pope, John Paul II, was Polish. Concerning its ethnic groups are Polish are German Ukrainian Belarusian, which are three of the main countries bordering Poland of the population is from 15 to 64 years old, with a fair repartition between males and females, and the median age is 37,3 years old. According to the 2007 estimation, its population growth rate is negative, even if with a rate of it is almost non-existant. (www.cia.gov) Since the collapse of communism and the year 1989, in which Poland could get out of the soviet block, it has become one of the main central European markets, among others thanks to a “shock therapy” programme in the 90s, which permitted it to transform its economy. [...]

[...] London, UK. [...]

[...] In these cultures, males dominate a significant portion of the society and power structure, with females being controlled by male domination. A Low Masculinity ranking indicates the country has a low level of differentiation and discrimination between genders. In these cultures, females are treated equally to males in all aspects of the society. Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI) focuses on the level of tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity within the society - i.e. unstructured situations. A High Uncertainty Avoidance ranking indicates the country has a low tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity. [...]

[...] At last, French's habit concerning gifts is to show curiosity for intellectual matters by offering books or music, whereas the mark of friendship is the main thing to demonstrate in Poland, by offering simply a lighter, chocolates, or even a bottle of French cognac, which is a very successful present, and very easy to do for French managers ! (Intercultural Report on Eastern Europe, www.poland.gov.pl) 5. Hofstede's cultural dimension Hosted calculated different scores, made to assess the main differences between some countries' cultures. As we can notice, French and Polish scores are not so far-off from each other, despite the important differences we already allude to, and a few more we can now discover (cf Appendix 1 for details about those 5 dimensions). Hofstede's cultural dimension's scores France is a so called “Large-Power-Distance country” according to Hofstede's investigation. [...]

[...] With close scores of 86 and 78, France and Poland can be considered as traditional countries concerning Uncertainty Avoidance. As we saw, with 90% of the population who is catholic, Polish has a clear necessity of Uncertainty Avoidance through religion. France has a complex system of laws and regulations, that is the way the society prevents uncertainty, and this is the reason for such a high score. The more the system is guided by rules, the surest it is in a French's mind, even if some laws can seem useless, this is the way to avoid unfamiliar situations. [...]