Cultural Sensitivity-Mongolian Market (Coursework Sample)

Cultural Sensitivity-Mongolian Market
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Cultural Sensitivity-Mongolian Market
Cultural Sensitivity Analysis
Company X is an automobile manufacturer that is headquartered in the United States. The company specifies in producing automobile engine components for heavy-duty trucks as well as specialized engine components for the manufacturing sector. The company has over 2700 employees in America and projects this might expand with the planned expansion of a new international market. As an expanding company, the management appointed a special team to draft a strategy for expansion into an Asian market venture. After a thorough market research and analysis of potential Asian countries, the team identified Mongolia, a landlocked country in East and Central Asia (BBC, 2013).
A comparison between the United States and Mongolia reveals several cross-cultural differences that the company has to consider in designing the marketing approach and strategies. The cross-cultural differences include language differences, labor and economic differences and financial differences among others.
Significant Language differences
The official spoken and written language of Mongolia is the Mongolian which is used by over 95% of the native Mongolian population (BBC, 2013). To tackle this, the company will hire interpreters to enhance communication with the locals as well as facilitate technical and personal expressions. Mongolian written language has unique challenges because it is written in foreign script using the Cyrillic alphabet. The company will also have to institute aggressive measures for quality control in writing communication to avoid costly errors. Finally, the company will have to alter it hiring procedures to include more Mongolian natives in the management of the new venture to enhance communication and marketing.
Significant Economic Differences
There are several economic differences between the two countries, significant enough to make the company adopt certain measures. For instance, Mongolian minimum monthly wage level $77.55 which means that their labor is very inexpensive (BBC, 2013). This means the Mongolian cost of production is lower and more affordable than in the United States. However this also means that the company has to adopt a prudent pricing policy since peoples' earnings are low due to the low wage levels. Compared to the United States, the Mongolian Banking system has significant structural weaknesses that are caused by limited government oversight and supervision. The company must therefore devise ways of funding its operations from the United States platform since the Mongolian system has limited access and efficiency.
Religious differences
Over half of the Mongolians population is Buddhists unlike the American culture which is dominated by Christians. Over 39% of the population is non-religious in addition to the majority Buddhists (BBC, 2013). In addition to religious differences, the Mongolians have other social events and practices that are totally different to the American culture. Therefore with high cultural context, the majority of the management of the new venture should not be western but the natives. The company will also restrain its communication with the natives to strictly professional and formal to avoid social cultural contradiction.
Marketing Strategies
Taking cross-cultural considerations, the company’s communication and marketing strategies in Mongolia must align to the differences between the American and Mongolian market. The marketing strategy will encompass the four elements of the product mix and strategies discussed below.
The engine of the company should be designed into a standard metric as the automobile company ventures into the Mongolian engine market. Mongolia uses a metric that is unique to the eastern countries like Russia and China. Therefore the company must decide whether to adopt a new design or maintain the American design metric or even adopt the Universal metric system. The company should also provide for easy repairs in addition to proper product packaging in line with Mongolian color preferences. The pricing of the engines should be sensitive to the economy and affordable for the market due to low income levels of the Mongolians. If the current pricing policy is adopted, the Mongolians will not afford ...