McDonalds Cross-Cultural Analysis Essay

IntroductionThe Internet has made the world a smaller place, specially when it comes to online worry its now just as easy for a confederation to attract customers in Nairobi as it is in Nevada. This technological globalisation doesnt translate to ethnic homogeneity, thoughwhile you aptitude be suitable to find a McDonalds in n primeval e really city on earth now, that doesnt mean that every city eats and thinks and shops in the identical way. Every national and cultural group in the world retains its gasconade language, its avow metaphors, its own identity, and thus, its own way of shopping. At rough the same pace as the popularity of the Internet increased, visions flourished of the World Wide Web as a tool for bringing the world together. The marketing world in particular quickly embraced the Internet as an ideal medium for reaching beyond municipal markets in collection to disseminate increases to foreign markets. By understanding how chat styles may be reflected on web land sites, we come a step further towards identifying, and after realizing the potentials of, the interactive nature of the Internet.This would be rewarding non only from the marketing perspective, further in any case for those giving medications that atomic number 18 harbouring on bringing the world nestled together finished dialogue. Intercultural communication competence, as Chen and Starosta 1 note, is imperative for human progress, and it is by studying communicationstyles and understanding how to drill them that we may be able to communicate more than havely, and promote dialogue mingled with us and them. The interactive and global nature of the Internet has fostered many visions of mutual understanding among burnishs, although the means for achieving this argon lock at a very early, exploratory correspond.A number of studies on the relationship between website goal and cultural proportions have been conducted. Studies like Marcus and Gould 2 and S heridan 3 analyze both commercial and non-commercial websites in an effort to identify relationships between Hofstedes cultural dimensions and visual presentation on the. In this work also were employ Hofsteds researches4, 5, mainly his typology of finiss that is the most widely accepted and frequently cited theories. Also Halls description of some cultural dimensions was exercised 1, 7, 8, 9, 10. Kluckhohns and Strodtbecks Variations in value orientations11, Gudykunsts 12 and Lewiss 13 researches devoted to cultural specifics of several(predicate) countries argon menti mavinnessd in this study. In this work we will try to analyze the speciality of communication between company and customers on current websites of McDonalds in the next five countries Ukraine, Russia, Germany, America and Canada and brand name some recommendations how to improve them according to their cultural specifics.1 Theoretical Issues and Ideas1.1 Website as Method of communicating between Company and I ts CustomersThe Internet becomes more and more popular all over the world. People use it for communication, business or just to prospect for the information they need. The Internet is a truly global thing. Growing importance of Internet is making communication through websites between companies and customers more and more signifi bumt. The Internet environment is not only a simple tool to promote a business, but it also offers opportunities to come forth information it is an efficient platform to communicate with the clients. Its great opportunity for companies to get feedback from their customers attract them and improve the vision of the company. Signifi give the bouncet result of effective communication is improved branding. If the contentedness or purpose of the company is communicated effectively to visitors, it will leave an impression on themthat will abet form their image of the company. stigmatization is important online and off, and the messages being sent argon a maj or factor. Website is cost effective, paper free communication. Using website, company laughingstock reach the wider audience and its open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, so it screw distribute information internally within the organization, as well as to sh ar information with business partners, clients and suppliers. New customers will be able to locate company and companys information and will always cope whither to contact the company. 14Company can inform customers about changes, sales, bonus campaigns, etc. gain valuable market research, to build trust and finally reduce depression and mailing costs. A professional-looking site can help company to be taken seriously and build credibility and trust. Many consumers search for information online before purchasing at a physical store companys site can make a good premiere impression on a potential customer. At the same time customers can express their attitude towards company, their wishes and judgments about different campai gns or products proposed by the company. Developing a web-site makes it attainable a very good communication with the clients and this leads, finally, to a constant adaptation of the companys offer to the continuously changing customers requests. The most efficient web-site is the one that is integrated into companys informatics organization. By creating its own website, a company gets the calamity to influence in a positive way, the phylogeny of its activity. This way, the company becomes more efficient, with a more flexible internal functionality, more c beful with the customers needs and expectations.151.2 McDonalds CorporationMcDonalds Corporation is the worlds largest kitchen range of hamburger fast sustenance restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries, and at that place is the same number of websites nowadays. Currently 1.7 million lot work for Brand McDonalds. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue rest aurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald in 1948 they reorganized their business as a hamburger stand using production line principles. Businessman Ray Kroc joined the company as a franchise federal agent in 1955. He subsequently purchased the chainfrom the McDonald brothers and oversaw its worldwide growth. A McDonalds restaurant is operated by either a franchi foresee, an affiliate, or the corporation itself. The corporations revenues come from the rent, royalties and fees paid by the franchisees, as well as sales in company-operated restaurants. McDonalds primarily sells hamburgers, cheeseburgers, chicken, french fries, breakfast items, soft drinks, shakes and desserts. In resolution to changing consumer tastes, the company has expanded its menu to include salads, wraps, smoothies and fruit.McDonalds has a charity organization Ronald McDonald reside Charities which functions in 52 countries. Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) is an self-reliant organi zation whose mission is to create, find and support programs that directly improve the health and well being of children crossways the world. Programs ar grass-roots driven to enable the Charity to offer help where children need it mostright in their own communities. RMHC has three core programs the Ronald McDonald House, Ronald McDonald Family Room and Ronald McDonald Cargon Mobile. McDonalds started its global diversity journey by creating the spheric Womens Initiative in 2009. This initiative is active in all of McDonalds operating aras of the world and is sponsored globally by Don Thompson, McDonalds COO. In each part of the world, this initiative supports the recruitment, development, and advancement of women at all aims of the company while creating a culture where women have the opportunity to succeed and grow. In 2011, the accelerator pedal organization recognized the Global Womens Initiative as an innovative and systemic means through which women can thrive in the McD onalds system and awarded the company the prestigious Catalyst Award. As a result of the global concentration, womens business networks have been formed and have quickly grown. McDonalds has for decades maintained an extensive advertising campaign.In addition to the usual media (television, radio, and newspaper), the company makes significant use of billboards and signage, sponsors sporting events ranging from Little League to the Olympic Games, and makes coolers of orange drink with its logotype available for local events of all kinds. Nonetheless, television has always played a central role in the companys advertising strategy. Im lovin it is an international branding campaign by McDonalds Corporation. It was created by Heye & Partner, a longtime McDonalds agency based in Unterhaching, Germany. It was the companys first global advertising campaign and was launched inMunich, Germany on September 2, 2003, under the German title ich liebe es. The English part of the campaign was la unched in Australia on September 21, 2003, the UK on September 17, 2003, and in the USA on September 29, 2003 with the music of Tom Batoy and Franco Tortora and vocals by Justin Timberlake, in which the slogan appears. In 2007, after a public casting call which received 15,000 submissions, McDonalds selected 24 flock to appear as part of the campaign. Images of those chosen, who had submitted a story and digital photograph which captured themes of inspiration, offense and fun, appeared on McDonalds paper bags and cups worldwide 16.1.3 Analysiss CriteriaIn this study is used the collectivism versus laissez faire dimension, which was proposed by Geert Hofstede. Individualism is the one placement versus its opposite, collectivism, that is the degree to which individuals are integrated into groups. On the individualist side we find societies in which the ties between individuals are loose everyone is expected to look after him/herself and his/her adjacent family. On the collectivi st side, we find societies in which raft from birth onwards are integrated into strong, cohesive in-groups, often extended families (with uncles, aunts and grandparents) which continue protecting them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty. determine in collectivistic cultures include training, physical condition and the use of skills whereas in individualistic cultures values are personal time, emancipation and challenge. Another of Hofstedes dimensions is provide distance. This dimension expresses the degree to which the less index numberful members of a society accept and expect that power is distributed unequally. The fundamental issue here is how a society handles inequalities among people. People in societies exhibiting a large degree of power distance accept a hierarchical order in which everybody has a place and which needs no further justification. In societies with wretched power distance, people strive to equalize the distribution of power and demand justification fo r inequalities of power 17.In F. Trompenaars interpretation there are the next cultural factors equality and hierarchy. Equality corresponds with dispirited power distance and hierarchy with high power distance. Equality is about all people having equal status. It assumes we all have equal rights,irrespective of birth or other gift. Hierarchy is about people being superior to others. It assumes that order happens when few are in charges and others obey through the scalar chain of command 18. unrivalled more dimension is hesitancy avoidance. According to G. Hofstede un evidence avoidance deals with a societys tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity it ultimately refers to mans search for the true. It indicates to what extent a culture programs its members to feel either uncomfortable or comfortable in unstructured situations. Unstructured situations are novel, unknown, surprising, and different from usual. Uncertainty avoiding cultures try to minimize the possibility of such situ ations by strict laws and rules, safety and security measures, and on the philosophical and religious level by a belief in absolute Truth there can only be one Truth and we have it . The next criterion used in analysis is high and low condition of culture, which was found by E. Hall. Hall observed that meaning and place setting are inextricably bound up with each other 19, and suggested that to understand communication one should look at meaning and con text edition together with the code (i.e., the words themselves).By context, we refer to the situation, background, or environment connected to an event, a situation, or an individual. When communication is high-context, it is not only the non-verbal and para-verbal communication that comes into play. High-context communication draws on physical aspects as well as the time and situation in which the communication takes place, not to take down the relationship between the interlocutors. The closer the relationship, the more high-co ntext the communication tends to be, drawing on the shared knowledge of the communicating parties. Gudykunst identified high-context communication to be indirect, ambiguous, maintaining of harmony, reserved and under say. In contrast, low-context communication was identified as direct, precise, dramatic, open, and based on feelings or true intentions. The next Halls cultural factor used is time. There are two types of time monochronic time and polychronic time. Monochronic, as he called it M-Time, means doing one thing at a time. It assumes careful planning and scheduling and is a familiar Western approach that appears in disciplines such as time management. Monochronic people tend also to be low context. In Polychronic cultures, human interaction is valued over time and material things, leading to a lesser concern for getting things through with(p) they do get done, but morein their own time.Aboriginal and Native Americans have typical polychronic cultures, where talking stick m eetings can go on for as long as somebody has something to say. Polychronic people tend also to be high context. According to Richard Lewis we can divide all cultures in three groups monoactive, polactive and antiphonal. Monoactive cultures it is cultures, where activity complies with clear planning and organized in definite orded, they do not approve distractions to other tasks and percept the time linearly. Polyactive cultures are people- point, talkative and communicative, can make several actions at ones. In reactive cultures activity depends on changing situation and appears to be a reaction on these changes. Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck did some germinal work in drawing up a conceptual map which tried to include the comp permite range of values which it is possible for human beings to hold in relation to five key issues about which all human beings hold opinions.OrientationPostulated range of variationsHuman natureevilneutralmix of good and evilgoodchangeable abidingchangeableun changeablechangeableunchangeableMan-naturesubjugation to natureharmony with naturemastery over natureTimepastpresent approachingActivitybeingbeing in becomingdoingRelationallinealitycollateralityindividualism2 Communicative Effectiveness of the Company Website in Various Countries2.1 McDonalds settle for Ukrainian CustomersUkrainian culture is more likely to be high-context than low context. By Hall high-context communication involves more of the information in the physical context or internalized in the person, that is why this cultures usually use more imagery and less text, people are expected to read between the lines and greater confidence is placed in the non-verbal aspects of communication. These features are notably represented on the Ukrainian website one can view the process of preparing food in stage by stage pictures with minimum accompanying text. One more example is a list of suppliers shown as a table of logotypes of these companies. Also the main foliate contains i llustrations of dishes moving through the screen links to other pages are given as small pictures connected with their limit, for example if you want to go to the page where you can find more about quality of milk you should click the picture of a cow. So this site communicates by means of links and information stated in a limited add of text with illustrations. This gives not very transparent overview of the content in the website and often requires that the user finds out the information placing the cursor over the link to reveal more content before finally clicking this link.The term transparency is borrowed from the usability field. Basing on the Variations in Value Orientations Ukrainians perceive an individual as a mixture of bad and good features. According to TerriMorrison the level of trust is rather low the Ukrainians are suspicious of other people and along with it they are likely to rely on objective factual information , based on their own experience 20. There are a l arge amount of information devoted to the quality of milk and each component of food such as its composition and great diversity of food quality certificates. One more interesting feature is presence of variety of graphs which reflect the results of polls after Doors Open Day (DOD). But people in our country do not believe this information, they think it can be falsified and that the company deceives them just to gain profit. This part of content doesnt work effectively. By Marcus & Gould strong focal point on expertise, authority, certifications, official stamps or tidings can be explained by high power distance. In addition the site contains a special parting which describes you how to apply for participation in DOD and provides you with a video of the previous excursions. These features may appeal to relatively high level of uncertainty avoidance in Ukraine.2.2 McDonalds Site for Russian CustomersRussia is collectivistic culture its one of dimensions found be Geert Hofstede, which is characterized by tight social frameworks in which people tag between groups. The site promotes collectivistic values it is reflected in the imagery of the website, such as images of the groups of people who involved in various activities like dancing, singing, coffee drunkenness and doing some sports. Values in collectivistic cultures include training and physical condition. Russian website includes special section called be active, which offers different physical exercises for boys and girls and contains sets of photographs of competitions navigated in various cities. Russian culture is relatively high-context which according to E. Hall means that the most of the information is already in the person, while very little is in the plain, transmitted part of the message. Using this feature towards website a lot of animations and pictures are expected, and we can find a lot of them on the Russian site. Animation effectuate are represented almost on each page and a lot of p hotos and bright, eye catching images are also placed. The power distance dimension offered by G. Hofstede is apparent in hierarchical structure of the website.According to Marcusand Gould high power distance is reflected in tall hierarchical website structures, either through the implementation of many pages with unstructured layout, or the opening of new browser windows for new pages, instead of the same browser window. This description completely depicts the structure of Russian site there are many sidebars and menus, new browser window opens for each new page. The homepage features a large collection of links, and describes clearly what lays behind them though the use of headings, subheadings and illustrations. This makes it possible for the visitor to find what he or she interested in immediately, navigation schemes intended to prevent users from becoming lost. These features may appeal to two different parameters high uncertainty avoidance proposed by G. Hofstede to explain a societys tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity and by Lewis R.D. polyactivity impatience and willingness to act quickly.2.3 McDonalds Site for German CustomersGerman culture is more likely to be individualistic culture than collectivistic one, according to Geert Hofstede it means that individuals expected to be independent of others and look after themselves. We can see that pictures on the site promote individualistic values like personal time and freedom individuals shown alone, enjoying themselves and usually products are placed with them. Individualistic culture is inclined to make a direct connection between the individual and the product. We can explain this effect by referring to Marcus and Gould, who suggested that the individualism and collectivism may influence the importance given to individuals versus products shown by themselves or in groups and that in individualism images demonstrated through materialism and consumerism. German is very low-context culture and as it explained by E. Hall more explanation is needed and very little is taken for granted in this cultures.As we can see the German website is full of text information and large amount of wordage is used on each page, whilst only two pages have animated effects and on some pages the imagery is very poor. German website can be described as a very transparent site, which may also appeal to the low context of this culture so it provides a detailed overview of the rest of the site on the homepage and each subheading has a small picturecorresponding with the content of relevant page. It can also be explained by high uncertainty avoidance there are attempts to reveal or forecast the results of implications of actions before users act. gliding through the site is linear and new pages constantly open in the same browser window this appeals to monoactivity of German culture, which by R. Lewis means that it can make only one action during definite time. In German time is monochronic and spe cial attention devoted to the speed of actions website with the structure mentioned above is not goal-oriented and users are expected to be willing to explore the site and seek for information. Social roles are not used to organize the information it means that all sections are obvious to all users and not sealed off from them prominence given to customers and employees these features may appeal to the relatively low power distance.2.4 McDonalds Site for American CustomersIn contrast to Ukrainian American is low-context culture. M. Hall described low-context cultures as those in which the mass of information is vested in the explicit code that is why these cultures are identified, direct, precise, dramatic, open, and basing on feelings or true intentions, people dont communicate with gestures, the meaning depends on content and the spoken word, what means a verbal communication. These features are represented on the American website one can read a lot of information about different kinds of hamburgers, which is presented with text and with fewer occurrences of animations. Website is kept as practical as possible and has direct sources of information, for example additional information about components contained in food is placed below the page as boxes in which you can see the process of growth of this components and an information about it, and when you click this box a new page opens and the information appear as text without illustrations.One more example is that only the main page consists of heavy images, pop-up effects, moving elements which accompanied by scaring music this is one more proof of the low-context of American culture. On the American website there is a promotion tab, when you click on it a new page opens as a game, this is a fast message for people. By Halls fast message are adept at creating quickcontacts, but may also be perceived as superficial. Based on the work of Kaplan 21 and Chen and Starosta, Choe 22 low-context culture tend to em phasize logic and rationality, based on the belief that there is always an objective truth that can be reached through linear processes of discovery. Choe said thought patterns refer to forms of reasoning and approaches to problem solution and can differ from culture to culture. American website implies linear navigation throughout the site, with a consistent layout throughout the pages of the site. The website performs the explorative function.2.5 McDonalds Site for Canadian CustomersCanada is low-context culture. According to M. Hall cultural dimensions, in low-context cultures very little are taken for granted. Whilst this means that more explanation is needed, it also means there is less chance of misunderstanding particularly when visitors are present. Many overt and explicit messages that is simple and clear, outer locus of control and blame of others for failure visible, external, outward reaction flexible and open grouping patterns, changing as needed finespun bonds between people with little sense of loyalty low commitment to relationship (task more important than relationships) time is highly organized product is more important than process. These features are represented on the Canadian website all pages are rich of text, especially a category Food Quality. Based on the work of Geert Hofstede low-context culture is more likely to be individualistic one, where emphasis is put on the goals and accomplishments of the individual rather than the group. Individuals are expected to be independent of others and look after themselves. When accomplishing goals, consideration of others is limited to include only oneself and ones immediate family.Personal values include personal time, freedom, and challenge. For example on the Canadian website there are some information that is family oriented. There is a section called Community in which one can find a subsection called Ronald McDonald House Charities which provide families of sick children a home-away-from-h ome or a place of peace and calm within a hospital. By Hall, perception of time is one more peculiarity of culture. Canada belongs to monochromic culture, where time is viewed as animportant, almost tangible phenomenon. People of such cultures are oriented towards planning and scheduling, so as to perform efficiency. As an example on the Canadian website there is a category Restaurant Location, where you can put your address and site will show you the nearest restaurant.3 Recommendations for Improvement of McDonalds Websites3.1 Cultural awareness in Web DesignNowadays a website is not just a collection of text it is a conglomerate of images, multimedia, interactive features, animated graphics, and sounds. Cross-cultural web design nowadays requires dealing with design issues that include culture-specific color connotations, preferences in layout, animation, sounds, and other effects that are characteristic of todays generation of websites. Formatting and navigation of the website al so help attracting users attention and interest them in using the website. In order to do this successfully, the target group of the website must be studied. Research into how your target markets culture affects their consumer behavior should be done. Conducting an ethnographic investigation visiting the country, aftermath how they shop and what they like, studying products which have been successful in the market and seeing how these strategies can be adopted is an important step for creating a multicultural website. food market research can be done by surveying potential customers from the target market and interviewing cultural experts.While user participation is ideal in the designing process, a study of the design elements prevalent in the culture may also provide the web designer with some useful guidelines. Values and behavior indoctrinated through cultural influences may be reflected in design practices. Every national and cultural group in the world retains its own lang uage, its own metaphors, its own identity, and thus, its own way of shopping Keeping abreast of cultural and current affairs in each of the target markets is one of the key factors, as a change in circumstances may necessitate changes to the site. Research has shown that certain colors have distinct connotations in different cultures.The implications should therefore be considered when choosing the palette for the website. Similarly to the impact of color, the beguileness of the images across various cultures should be considered. Other symbols andimages just may not be culturally relevant in other areas of the world. Studies carried out into the impact of new technologies show that users show resistance to products with Western metaphors in favour of products localized according to their cultural customs and idioms. Choosing appropriate images for the site accordingly or being prepared to use different images in separate versions of the website can be useful while creating an effe ctive one.233.2 potential difference Improvements for the McDonalds Websites of Particular CountriesBefore giving recommendations we would like to mention that we can assume that a successful and globe-spanning company such as McDonalds has done extensive focus group testing of their website and consequently customized almost each website to appeal to its user group in each target culture, to ensure that product communication is as effective as possible. As a result it wont be easy to recommend significant changes, but still there are some cultural issues that can be improved. Ukrainian website contains a lot of imagery, but taking into account the high context of this culture, it would be better to add more animation, because the site seems to be too constant.Taking into account that Ukrainian culture is collectivistic one not only logos of McDonalds suppliers might be on the site some images which corresponds with its values like family, physical condition and training could be u sed. Importance must be given to the products shown by themselves or with groups, not to the individuals. Also stress on the Ukrainian history and traditions should feature the site to attract users attention. In Ukrainian culture we can see high power distance, so the strong focus on expertise and certification might have been effective, but its not. This culture is suspicious about people so it is better to avoid too high concentration on this information otherwise the site is unattractive and can arouse the suspicions. On the whole it can cause negative perception of the company people may think that McDonalds just trying to crime syndicate the wool over their customers eyes.One more important thing to be considered is opening of new page. On Ukrainian website new pages open in the same window but according to Marcus & Gould study for cultures with high power distance it is more convenient to use pages, which open in the new window of browser.To cope with high uncertainty avoid ance the site should be structured better more sidebars and menus can be added to simplify the navigation across the site and to prevent the user from becoming lost. It is also important because of polyactivity of Ukrainian culture people are unwilling to seek for information and to explore the site, they need to get the clear information quickly. On the Russian website more animation can be added, for example animation of moving people is really suitable for high-context culture and also some musical support on the main page is appropriate. Information should be organized according to social roles, for example there can be special section for managers or potential investors. This can be effective because of high power distance inherent to Russian culture.Also according to these feature significant emphasis should be made on the social and moral order and its symbols like national colors or traditions. To correspond with high level of uncertainty avoidance in Russia the next improve ments may be efficient addition of tiny windows which will reveal more content information when placing a cursor over a link before clicking it, in other words forecast of the results or implications of acting before users act. Russian culture is relatively feminine it means that attention to the content of the site can be attracted by usage of poetry, common idioms, visual aesthetics and appeals to unifying values. German website contains a vast animation on the main page. Its not the best choice for low-context culture like this one it can bewilder people and accrue the attractiveness of the site. Low power distance also dictates some important characteristics we can find a huge section devoted to the quality of food but for German culture its advised to weaken the focus on the expertise, logos and certificates.Taking into account that German is individualistic culture we can say that more prominence should be given to youth and action, the section devoted to the employment can b e expanded. Individualistic cultures are expected to be willing to provide personal information, so different employees can share their experience with those who want to start a job in McDonalds. Emphasis might be done on what is new, extraordinary and available only in this particular company. American website contains huge amount of animation on the main page, but for the low-context country it would be better if the site contains fewer amount of digital data, less-highly structured information, minor and infrequent emphasis on thesocial and moral order (e.g., nationalism or religion) and its symbols, weak focus on expertise, authority, experts, certifications, official stamps, or logos. As an individualistic country the site should contain more information or pictures to maximize motivation of people, some images of success demonstrated through materialism and consumerism. Also its good to use rhetorical style controversial or argumentative speech and tolerance or encouragement of extreme claim. An important thing is to give prominence to youth and action. In American culture we can see low uncertainty avoidance, so to match this fact website should simplify the complexity with maximal content and choices (do more descriptions for quicker decisions).People from country with low uncertainty avoidance accept wandering and risk, so it would be good to do some quizzes online. Canadian website, as it is also low context culture, should give more prominence to citizens, customers, or employees. There should be no restrictions or barriers to access on the site it should be transparent, integrated, implicit freedom to roam must be present. Taking into account that Canadian culture is individualistic one they should give importance for individuals, make an emphasis on truth and what is new and unique (on the Canadian site it is hard to understand which information is fresh, all articles are mixed and undated, so it is uncorrectable to find something new. On the Ca nadian website here are no graphics, sound, and animation, but for masculine country it would be good for utilitarian purposes.Also it could contain game and competitions, because an attention gained through these features. The navigation should be oriented to exploration and control. Canada is a long-term oriented country, so in fact information on the site should be focused on truth and certainty of beliefs. It could contain some rules as a source of information and credibility, because the Canadian website is made a little freely, for example, when you what to return to the previous page the site let you on the other page, which you didnt open and sometimes it hard to find what you saw before.ConclusionIn the terms of globalized ways of satisfying people needs, there is a trend of gradual replacement of the companies market-orientation with the customer-orientation. Companies customer-orientation implies a continuousand detailed process of analysis regarding the potential clients expectations, in this way, a strong connection between customers needs and the quality of offered products and services being assured. Learning the cultural differences in particular countries its easy to understand how to attract the customers and make their researching more productivity, shadowed and simple. When you understand the personal, national or organizational culture, then you can seek to align with them and hence gain greater influence. Hofstede notes that some cultural relativism is necessary it is difficult to establish absolute criteria for what is noble and what is disgusting. There is no escaping bias all people develop cultural values based on their environment and early training as children.Not everyone in a society fits the cultural pattern precisely, but there is enough statistical regularity to identify trends and tendencies. These trends and tendencies should not be treated as defective or used to create negative stereotypes but recognized as different patte rns of values and thought. In a multi-cultural world, it is necessary to cooperate to achieve practical goals without requiring everyone to think, act, and believe identically. By creating its own website, a company gets the possibility to influence in a positive way, the evolution of its activity. This way, the company becomes more efficient, with a more flexible internal functionality, more careful with the customers needs and expectations. But still, when creating a website, all features of particular countries must be considered to make clear appeal and improve the communication between company and customers.List of References1 Chen, G., & Starosta, W. (1998). Foundations of Intercultural Communication. Boston Allyn and Bacon 2 Marcus, A., & Gould, E. W. (2000). Cultural dimensions and global web user-interface design What? So What? Now What? 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