International Business Paper

Running Head: International Business
International Business Paper
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Abstract
There are many barriers for businesses in conducting their business. The aim of any company is should be to overcome these berries and expand the business to become bigger. Companies have been going global in order to create a bigger market for their products. However these companies face a big challenge in trying to do business in those countries. One of the problems is cultural conflicts due to the cultural differences. This paper examines the causes of such conflicts with a case study of L’Oreal.
International Business
Conflicts in companies will always occur due to culture differences that occur between people of different countries. A company may be doing business in different countries which makes it face culture variations in those countries (Kopp & Roth, 2003). L’Oreal for instance is a cosmetics company that is the worlds largest in the industry. The company has branches in different countries all over the world with the head quarters at New York.
Its diversity and operation in different countries leads to L’Oreal experiencing culture conflicts. Culture conflicts are likely to occur in different ways as between employees who are from different cultures. L’Oreal has employed employees from different cultures in the countries it operates. Cultural differences come along with differences in peoples believes as they are brought up differently (Elmer, 1993). What is right for one person might be wrong for another. This leads to conflicts as a result of cultural differences.
Communication becomes a problem for companies that go global and may result to conflicts. Different cultures will have different modes of communication where there is a certain code of conduct. If the company uses a poor approach to communicate to the market then this leads to a drop in demand for their products. L’Oreal deals with cosmetics and beauty products that are mainly marketed to women. Some cultures have rigid traditions and may not allow their members to use such products. The need for these cosmetics products will have to be effectively communicated to the people (Elmer, 1993).
Marketing of L’Oreal’s products may lead to the need of advertising. Cultures provide for different values and believe which when not followed leads to conflicts. Advertising for L’Oreal is done through the media by use of videos that attract the attention of viewers and get them to buy the products. Adverts are played in televisions and since the company markets beauty products, the adverts are meant to show the beauty that comes with using the products. However some of the adverts may not be well received by the different cultures. Beauty adverts are associated with beautiful women displaying body parts. This is not acceptable by some cultures and L’Oreal has to be aware that such adverts are likely to cause conflicts and result to fall in the demand of its products. Such conflicts occur between the company and the social groups that are responsible for maintaining human rights and values.
Another source of cultural conflict occurs between the company and social groups as religious groups who may feel that the company is not offering the right products for its people. In the case of L’Oreal some religions may prevent their followers from using beauty products as they believe that beauty is God given. Such conflicts result to lack of demand for those products in the countries where it exists.
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