Global Business Communication Issues - Essay Example

Global Business Communication IssuesIntroductionThe global market brings with many opportunities for the international companies involved. However, although the business enterprises involved enjoy the unlimited market for their goods and services, there are inherent challenges that they encounter in the context of the international market. The sale of products and services in other countries involves considerable communication challenges (Krizan, 2011). It should be noted that different people in different countries differ in cultures, values, and language and, as a result, require different communication approaches for success.

Digital marketing has received a vast acceptance as companies can offer the products globally without making any physical appearance in the global territories. However, every international business enterprise must ensure that the content including the legal notices and technical information is tailored to reflect the requirements of the local market (Krizan, 2011). Companies must also communicate in a manner that conforms to the preferences of the local cultures. Addressing these inherent challenges in global business communication has proven costly, and only a few companies have addressed communication issues to reflect the needs of the markets in different countries.

Global Business Communication Issues Challenges that companies in terms communication in the global business environment are vast and depend on the cultural and demographic characteristics of the particular target market. There are, however, some common communication issues that are encountered in the global market. One practical problem that businesses encounter is that of localizing the communications (Krizan, 2011). To effectively market the products in every export territory, business enterprises must communicate in the local languages.

The implications of such a requirement are that the business enterprises should translate their product information, business communications and marketing collateral. To create communications that are relevant to the local market needs a translation that exceeds the domestic content is required. Therefore, companies must make their advertising copies incorporate the benefits that specifically meet the needs of the local buyers and product descriptions to comply with the local practices and regulations.

Solving this communication challenge requires that international companies should have localization agencies in different countries. Another critical issue in the global business communication is that of using consistent product terminologies (Krizan, 2011). There is a significant challenge for every manufacturer to ensure that the names of the components, products, and spare parts are consistently used in every export territory. Lack of consistent product terminologies creates a problem in supplying the right spare parts or products.

To address this problem, the international companies must develop databases of technical terms and products and provide the translations of these technical terms to the local distribution and marketing agencies. The global business enterprises should undertake a global terminology management to ensure the consistency of communication and avoid costly errors (Krizan, 2011).Another significant challenge in communication for the global businesses involves meeting the local cultural preferences and values (Krizan, 2011).

The global business enterprises must, therefore, be aware of the local cultural values and preferences as used in both the written and verbal communication. The choice of images, words or color, for example, may have an impact in some export territories based on their cultural preferences (Krizan, 2011). Working with the localization agents to understand these cultural preferences is thus important. If I were the president of my company, I would think it fundamentally important for the company to resolve the issues discussed.

The issues of communication highlighted are significant for the success of any marketing effort. Ignoring these issues may seem profitable in the short-term but would be costly in the long-term. Therefore, I would devise an implementation plan that focuses on the periodic implementation strategies in different export territories spreading over a long period in a manner that would least affect the profits. Prioritizing the most important international market segments would be accommodated in the implementation plan.

ReferencesKrizan, A. (2011). Business communication. Australia: South-Western Cengage Learning.