Cross Cultural Management Case Study: Effective Business Management By Alizee Airline

Question

Task: The purpose of this assignment is to assess students’ ability to identify the cultural values and dimensions of different cultures and their impact on international business performance. The students should apply this knowledge from the perspective of a consultant, advising the Alizee airlines company how they could mitigate some of the cross-cultural problems to enhance business performance.

Using GLOBE Study’s cultural dimensions as a point of reference, identify and discuss the cultural similarities and differences between Brazil, Malaysia and USA illustrated in the case. Using GLOBE Study’s cultural dimensions as a point of reference, critically analyse how cultural similarities and differences could affect combined results for consumers and non consumers in each of these three countries so that Alizee can optimise online marketing activities which are specific to each. Please give examples to support your analysis. As consultants, your analysis should both explain the major similarities, differences and provide insights into what could have been done to enhance online behaviours of consumers and non-consumers of the Alizee airlines company from Brazil, Malaysia and USA in the cultural perspective.

Answer

Introduction
This cross cultural management case study explores the role of cross communication towards effective business management. Cross-cultural management is crucial for companies in order to understand the attributes, values and behaviour of people in different countries. It applies in the identification of the consumer behaviour (Yuen, Yeow& Lim, 2015). The present alizee airline case study identifies the similarities and dissimilarities in the cultural aspects of three chosen countries that are USA, Malaysia and Brazil. This cross cultural management case study is dependent on the result of GLOBE’s study on cultural dimension. The comparison between the cultures of the three countries can assist the Airline organization Alizee to make improvements in its online marketing strategies by understanding the behaviour of the consumers as well as the non-consumers.

Cultural similarities and dissimilarities between Brazil, Malaysia and USA
Consumers and non-consumers of Alizee were asked questions for gaining knowledge about their cultural viewpoints associated with their online behaviour. There are nine different cultural dimensional elements as explained in the cross cultural management case study published by GLOBE (Valaei et al., 2016). Among them Power distance, Uncertainty avoidance, Institutional collectivism, Future orientation and Performance orientation are discussed in this particular case. The differences found for each of the dimensions for the three countries are explained below:

Power distance: In Brazil, according the view of most of the Alizee consumers, there is no particular target of the company and it targets everyone. However, few consumers believe that mainly people from young generation use social media platforms the most. Thus, it can be said that they are the main target of the online marketing strategies taken up by the company. According to the non-Alizee customers, the efforts of the company are targeted mainly on the young, elite and business personalities who utilize the apps and social media.

In Malaysia, most of the interviewed non-consumers and consumers had agreed that this variable is irrelevant; however, few of them have agreed that the company have taken up online marketing strategies to target business personalities and frequent travellers.

Most of the non-consumers and consumers felt that efforts were given to target everyone as stated by the consumers of the company in Brazil.

Alike Malaysia, in USA, both the non-consumers and consumers did not refer to this variable, but they have clearly stated that the company targeted either everyone or the business people. Maximum people believe that online marketing efforts are made for those people who travel frequently, use the company’s Apps, and follow social media pages.

Uncertainty avoidance: In Brazil, both the service users and non-service rely on the online method of ticket booking because of safety and security concern. Self-protection, risk avoidance and avoiding unexpected situations are the main concern of the Alizee consumers. Few non-consumers mentioned that before the ticket booking, they searched the backgrounds of the travel agents but did not book tickets from there to avoid additional fees and involvement of the intermediary.

Like Brazil, Malaysian consumers also agreed that the reason behind the online booking is the ease of the booking process and the will to avoid unexpected results. Consumers generally rely on the price of the ticket during selecting a particular booking process between the online booking and booking by involving the travel agents.

On this cross cultural management case study Consumers and non-consumers of USA resort to online platforms for booking tickets and admitted that they preferred choosing tickets from other airlines. Some non-consumers think that the unexpected situations are less in online booking at Alizee and it can influence them to buy ticket from there.

Institutional collectivism: All the airline service users and other people of Brazil are influenced by the online source for information regarding airline services. Brazilians are used to external sources such as blogs, forums, websites associated with travel and they use to recommend their friends and close ones who are planning tours and may use airline service. According to them, the online sources provide both positive and negative information regarding airline services. The video campaigns of the company remind people about their friendship and thus the effect of the video campaign is extensive on the consumers.

Malaysian consumers of airline services make decision for travelling by their own but they depend on their family members, co-workers and friends for collecting suggestions. Decision-making, friendship, loyalty and dependence on the organization are the aspects that are pertinent for managing the cross-cultural management issues.

In the USA, institutional collectivism had seemed to be irrelevant for all the service users and others. They consider the opinion of friends and their family to take decisions just like the other two countries. However, individualistic approach is also famous among the non-consumers and consumers of the USA. The impression of the online video campaigns of Alizee was mostly positive and diverse among them.

Future orientation: Airline customers of Brazil generally depend on the cost of the tickets during planning for their tours. However the service users also make spontaneous decisions, based on the destination and seasons of the visit. Most of the consumers of Alizee admitted that they plan for their tours in advance, and some non-consumers also agreed to this.

Just like Brazil, in Malaysia, airline service users and non-consumers consider cost of tickets as a major factor while planning for tours. The next destination of the travellers identified on this cross cultural management case study is another factor for both non-consumers and consumers and this is found to be similar with the views of Brazilians. They also depend on prior planning for tours through airlines like Brazilians.

According to the airline service users of the USA, management of wealth and long-term thinking influences the tour planning. Like the Brazilian consumers, the non-consumers of the USA depend on price of the tickets during decision-making process and majority of them use to plan for travel in advance like other two countries.

Performance orientation: Most of the Brazilian Airline service-users choose the online method while buying airline services because of the price. It is observed that user-friendly innovation and strong flight connections mostly influence in the decision-making. However, some of the non-consumers also compare the innovations of Alizee with their needs.

The consumers of Malaysia usually choose a platform for booking of the tickets which is very easy to use; however, some of them depend on reliability and reputation of organizations. In Malaysia airline customers rely on the price of the service while buying tickets; this trend is similar to the trend followed by the Brazilians.

Safety and reliability are the factors that are considered by consumers in the USA while making online transactions. However, their view was not positive toward innovative and creative ideas of the company. Unlike the other two countries, people of the USA are more dependent on the performance and excellence.

The second group of variables and their relevance with the countries among non-consumers and consumers was analyzed with the metrics of data collection in the Facebook Fan pages of Alizee. Many Brazilian consumers believe that they are happy with the initiative of campaigning using the email platform and the personalized gadgets provided by the company are also attractive to them. Majority of the service users thinks that the mails and advertisements contain clear message; however, another portion of the interviewed people thought that there is a need for making improvements. On this cross cultural management case study ist is also identified that websites are more preferred more over the mobile applications by consumers as well as the non-consumers of Brazil. People are more attracted by banners that are simple and well decorated.

Malaysian consumers rely on booking tickets through the official website of Alizee by means of PCs because of security concerns; this consumer behaviour is just like the customers of Brazil. However, people also prefer telephone calls, iPad, tablet, smart phones and travel agents for ticket booking. The initiative of campaigning using email platform is not popular. Customers mainly prefer warmer pictures in the banners, mails and other advertisement and do not like the mails sent to them by the company. This fact is contrasting with the result found in Brazil.

Consumers of USA prefer to book tickets through the online methods but using the websites and not the mobile applications as there are chances for security breach in case of mobile apps. Unlike the service users of Malaysia, USA customers possess good and positive point of view for the online marketing campaign of the company using emails.

Critical analysis of the impact of cultural similarities and dissimilarities on combined results for consumers and non-consumers in Brazil, Malaysia and USA
According to Bird & Mendenhall’s (2016) alizee airline case study, Culture plays a great role in the decision making of consumers. Cultural dimensions greatly influence the online behaviour of the customers. As per the researches of Lee, (2016), GLOBE’s cultural dimension instrument is efficient in interpreting the psychological, social and personal viewpoint of the individual consumers. Cultural construct of a country contributes to the decision making process of customers. According to the findings of the case, there is a prominent difference in the relevance of variables in each of the countries. Regarding the target of the company, there is a varying opinion as experienced in the case of the three countries. People are confused to identify the actual target market of Alizee. In the three chosen country, it has been identified that most of the people believe that business personalities are Alizee’s direct target. On the other hand, few people think it is the young people that are targeted by the online marketing processes. There are also dissimilarities and similarities among the customers in the three countries regarding their security.

As per the cross cultural management case study conducted by Carter & Yeo, (2016), in Malaysia, it is found that people prefer mobile phones, tablets and iPad for ticket booking as these methods are easy and hassle-free. On the other hand, in other countries these gadgets are avoided during transactions because of security concerns. In Malaysia, the online marketing campaign using email is greatly criticized and found to be not up to the mark as the pictures, designs and messages do to meet the standard of the people and do not satisfy them. There are some similarities in the culture in Brazil, Malaysia and the USA as experienced from their behaviour. Most of the people plan for the tours, in advance, and are dependent on the cost of the tickets and the place that is to be visited by them. However, some non-consumers in Brazil also prefer seasonal and spontaneous decision.

One of the major factors that promote the consumers in making decisions is innovations of the services as observed in the service users and non-consumers of USA and Brazil. However, reliability and safety of the online services are also important factors for the Malaysian consumers.

Suggestions for Alizee to increase the online behaviour of the consumers and non-consumers
From the alizee airline case study of the cultural differences among the airline service users in Brazil, Malaysia and the USA, it is evident that Alizee, has implemented a single approach of online marketing thus the organization must make notable changes in the strategies for retaining customers and attracting more customers. The messages and contents used for online advertisements have to be specific so that people can understand to whom they are directed. In case of ticket booking, people of Brazil and Malaysia mostly depend on price of the tickets (Tanadi, Samadi & Gharleghi, 2015). Keeping this fact in mind the company can attract the non-consumers by providing them with offers while booking tickets through online methods. However, while doing so the company has to keep in mind that in Malaysia people are not happy with their email campaigns. Alizee has to improve the quality of the photos and contents used in the advertisements. They have to ensure that the picture is clear and warmer and the messages are uncomplicated so that everyone can understand the meaning. Alizee must compare the activities for online marketing with the cultural profile of the respective countries (Sampaio, Ladeira & Santini, 2017).

Conclusion
From the findings of the cross cultural management case study, it is concluded that cultural differences is of greater importance for airline organizations like Alizee as it operates in more than one country. Several similarities and differences are present in the point of views of people regarding the online efforts of Alizee. This cross cultural management case study also identifies organizations need to keep their concentration in meeting the satisfaction level of the people. Cross cultural management case study assignments are being prepared by our management assignment help experts from top universities which let us to provide you a reliable assignment help online service.

References
Bird, A., & Mendenhall, M. E. (2016). From cross-cultural management to global leadership: Evolution and adaptation. Journal of World Business, 51(1), 115-126.

Carter, S., & Yeo, A. C. M. (2016). Mobile apps usage by Malaysian business undergraduates and postgraduates: implications for consumer behaviour theory and marketing practice. Internet Research, 26(3), 733-757.

Lee, K. F. (2016). Towards addressing persistent risk perceptions in online shopping. Skyline Business Journal, 12(1).

Sampaio, C. H., Ladeira, W. J., & Santini, F. D. O. (2017). Apps for mobile banking and customer satisfaction: a cross-cultural study. International Journal of Bank Marketing, 35(7), 1133-1153.

Tanadi, T., Samadi, B., &Gharleghi, B. (2015). The impact of perceived risks and perceived benefits to improve an online intention among generation-y in Malaysia. Asian Social Science, 11(26), 226.

Valaei, N., Rezaei, S., Ismail, W. K. W., & Oh, Y. M. (2016). The effect of culture on attitude towards online advertising and online brands: applying Hofstede's cultural factors to internet marketing. International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising, 10(4), 270-301.

Tags: business strategy case study critical analysis alizee airline

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