Assignment Sample on 7BSP1271 Marketing Across Cultures

Introduction

The following report is based on the marketing and its management across different cultures. In this respect, SME has been undertaken to examine the entire report. In this context, Red Rock Consulting Ltd. has been selected as an SME in the UK for the current analysis. The following study will reflect a brief background of the company along with its products and offerings. Furthermore, a marketing mix strategy will be undertaken along with different sets of theories to align as well as mitigate the culture issues the organisation is facing. Cross-cultural issues are the most common challenges, which are being faced by the business in this generation as there are several different cultures residing in the world and all have their different values and options. Apart from this, there will be a brief justification behind the reason for selecting the theories, which will further conclude with recommendations for next three years.

Company background and products

Red Rock Consulting Ltd. has been operating as a specialist in the area of technology workforce solutions. The company helps businesses with the improvement of emerging ways of working. Different digital and mobile technologies are utilised by the organisation based on which they are looking forward to improve the digital infrastructure of other respective businesses (Redrock consulting, 2021).

Red Rock has been operating with only 41 employees. 15% voluntary employee turnover could be notified from the organisational perspective (Best companies, 2021). The company started their journey in 2005. The provision of quality services and flexible workforce has been supportive for enlarging their service efficiency that has positively influenced them to emerge at the top place as per national ranking.

Marketing mix elements

Product

Red Rock provides a range of services to potential clients based in the UK, which includes off payroll services, recruitment services and professional services of which the professional services are the most profitable prospect for the organisation. The company can increase their product development strategy and improve its existing services in terms of quality as well as an overall value so that it can attract a large number of potential clients (Chanias et al. 2019). Besides, diverse cultures have always been a common entity in various organisations based on which these services are adopted by the clients; therefore, creating diversification in their service offerings can help them to acquire multiple clients at once.

Price

In terms of pricing strategy, organisations need to adopt a flexible pricing approach that would suit the needs and requirements of different organisations and their culture. The services of Red Rock can be adopted by both, other SMEs in the UK market as well as large corporations that are looking for outsourcing and knowledge transfer. In this consideration, the organisation needs to set their pricing strategy based upon the number of services they are providing at once as well as the overall value that they are creating for their clients. It would be essential for the marketing managers of the organisation to discuss thoroughly with the client regarding the overall value they can achieve from the company’s services in the long run (Borangiu et al. 2019). Effective negotiation and communication skills are necessary to incorporate a profitable pricing strategy that works out for both the organisation as well as their clients.

Place

Red Rock Consulting Ltd. needs to effectively utilise their website as well as create their presence on different social media platforms such as LinkedIn. The organisation has only one headquarter in the Bristol, UK, which can be expanded to another location that would increase the organisation’s presence in the market in a much more effective manner. As the services provided by the company caters to both small and large organisations, creating a physical presence in the market can help to increase visibility on a much larger scale (Scardovi, 2017). Therefore, setting up another office in any of the places of UK like Liverpool, London and others can be an effective way to develop their infrastructure and offer services.

Promotion

In terms of promoting, Red Rock needs to adopt a highly effective promotional strategy, which can be done through social media marketing as well as digital advertisement. The organisation itself operates in the digital marketing industry; therefore, utilising the internal resources of the organisation in the most effective manner for promotional services can be incorporated. Promotion is all about increasing the company’s ability to target clients; therefore, digital promotion, as well as a traditional promotion, can be utilised by the company (Venkatesh et al. 2019). Utilising influencer marketing can also be a part of the organisation’s promotional strategies, which can target small companies as well as large organisations. Instagram has several digital marketing influencers with whom Red Rock can collaborate to increase visibility on a much larger scale.

Theoretical underpinnings

Schwartz Cultural theory

The theoretical understanding looks forward to identifying personal values that are usually robust across cultures that will guide Red Rock to have a diverse workforce. According to these values, adequate diversity could be maintained along with explaining conflict in values. The values as per the theory include self-direction and stimulation, achievement and hedonism, security and power, tradition and conformity, universalism, benevolence, and others (Ahmad et al. 2020).

Figure 2: Schwartz cultural theory

(Source: Ahmad et al. 2020)

The existence of dynamic relations among the mentioned values highlights the requisition of coordinated social interaction. Besides, the theory efficiently complies with highlighting the survival and welfare requirements of the community and people. It outlines a complete picture of the cultural values and preferences from an individual’s perspective that can be supportive to critically measure their choice and cultural beliefs (Belic et al. 2021). Based on this understanding, a profound idea could be generated regarding the societal cultural beliefs according to which Red Rock can offer its services. Motivation plays a significant role in this concern, which efficiently differentiates personal values; thus, enabling Red Rock to achieve high productivity goals. Based on the segmentation of the cultural values, four specific parts could be notified, which include self-transcendence, conservation, self-enhancement, openness to change, and others (Ahmad et al. 2020). These aspects highlight extended preference to measure the basic values according to which the cultural instance of a community or society could be measured.

Hofstede Cultural dimensions

According to the theoretical belief, different dimensions can be noticed like maintaining an explicit relationship with national culture. With regards to this apprehension, 6 different dimensions of national culture can be pointed out. These dimensions include power distance index, masculinity and femininity, collectivism and individualism, uncertainty avoidance index, short term and long-term orientation, restraint and indulgence and others (Beugelsdijk and Welzel, 2018).

Figure 3: Hofstede cultural dimensions

(Source: Beugelsdijk and Welzel, 2018)

Power distance reflects the societal norms and beliefs concerning the fundamental maintenance of equality. Individualism and collectivism highlights different cultural infrastructure and beliefs based on which the societal position could be signified in terms of highlighting social framework (Huang and Crotts, 2019). In this case, masculinity and femininity eventually reflects the attributes of achievement and material rewards along with the preference for modesty and cooperation, and others respectively (Huang and Crotts, 2019). Uncertainty avoidance denotes the degree of comfortability from a societal perspective. Both short-term and long-term orientation reflects the consideration of a pragmatic and normative approach within the society. Indulgence, on the other hand, highlights free gratification of basic needs, whereas, restraint culture suppresses the gratification of needs by regulating it through strict social norms (Kristjánsdóttir et al. 2017).

From this viewpoint, collective understanding of this theory can be highly compared with the prospects of national culture, which is needed to be complied by Red Rock as an integral part of achieving success. Conversely, this theory can also open up deliberate concerns of the societal culture that might provide both direct and indirect influence Red Rock’s operation in the current market.

Edgar Schein culture model

In accordance with the theoretical belief, three different levels of organisational culture can be reflected, which includes artefacts, values and assumed values (Coghlan, 2021). Artefacts highlight the common characteristics within an organisation that are easily noticed and realised. These aspects might include formal dress code and workplace behaviour, organisational vision and mission statement and others.

Figure 4: Schein cultural model

(Source: Coghlan, 2021)

Values define the next level of an organisational culture where, employees are considered as the most crucial division; hence, they should be valued efficiently (Guldenmund, 2018). Values of respective individuals working on behalf of an organisation might be supportive for determining the effectiveness of an organisational culture. The provision of a motivated and hygienic workplace environment can also motivate employees to strive for providing the best possible efforts by complying with the core organisational business objectives and values (Guldenmund, 2018). Assumed values as per this theory is the third level where certain beliefs and facts are highly emphasised. These cultural beliefs usually provide a direct influence upon the organisational culture.

In this context, the effectiveness of this theory can be recognised by creating profound guidance to maintain cultural aspects of Red Rock. With the empowerment of different levels of organisational culture, an extended flexible workplace environment could be conceptualised, which is recognised as a sequential pathway to ensure success by Red Rock in the market. Moreover, potential consequences of business expansion would be highly supported as this theory where the organisational culture is required to comply with the expanded market culture.

Trompenaars Cultural theory

Trompenaars cultural dimension highlights seven different aspects of culture. These aspects include universalism and particularism, individualism and communitarianism, neutral and effective, sequential and synchronous time, achievement and ascription, specific and diffuse, internal and external direction, and others (PÎRLOG, 2021).

Figure 5: Trompenaars cultural dimensions

(Source: PÎRLOG, 2021)

Universalism highlights the maintenance of equal treatment for all individuals, while, particularism highlights extended significance towards relationships rather than considering rules (PÎRLOG, 2021). Individualism reflects decision-making from one individual, whereas, communitarianism reflects the quality of life. Affective culture highlights to share individual emotions, which is prohibited in the neutral culture. Specific culture denotes maintenance of personal and work life of an individual. Diffusive culture creates the interconnection between personal and work life of people (Trompenaars, 2021). Achievement culture highly emphasises extending knowledge and skill where ascription culture defines the social status of an individual. Sequential and synchronous culture reflects both systematic and flexible operations within the society respectively. Internal and external direction culture highlights the existence of self-oriented and collaborative maintenance of relationships with the environment for achieving goals respectively (Trompenaars, 2021).

The overall value of this theory can be measured with its accountability to signify national culture and its relational attributes. However, Red Rock is likely to consider the mentioned cultural values and instincts as a sequential part of complying with the current market culture (Barker, 2020). Based on this understanding, Red Rock may look forward in arranging their service offerings for efficiently mitigating consumer requirements and current market demands. From this perspective, this theory can be highlighted as an extended understanding of national culture that efficiently highlights the cultural values and preferences of a society or community based on which red Rock can plan their services.

Justification of the theories adoption

Recruitment of a diverse culture

Red Rock provides recruitment services for the target customers, and in this consideration, focusing and integrating from the above cultural theories are necessary for Red Rock. It would be essential for Red Rock to identify the culture of the company where they would be sending payroll employees to work (Ciuriak and Ptashkina, 2018). If the employees who are hired by Red Rock are sent to work in a different organisation and are unable to fit in the organisational culture then the company might lose their contract with their client. This would not only reduce the reputation of Red Rock but would also lead to the failure of their project. Furthermore, the organisation provides digital transformation services to their clients, which includes services such as increasing organisational efficiency through digital transformation. It would be essential for the organisation to understand the culture of their client company based on which recruitment of effective individuals can be done who are experienced in terms of working with digital technology (Ciuriak and Ptashkina, 2018). Furthermore, the organisation also aims to relieve their clients from hiring challenges, and in this regard, Red Rock needs to make effective decisions in terms of choosing either a diverse workforce or a workforce that belongs to a particular culture (Lanzolla et al. 2020). For instance, if their client organisation requires Russian translators then the organisation would need to specifically look for individuals who are either Russian or have a good grip over the Russian language. Therefore, recruitment can emerge as an issue for the organisation in the long run, which can be resolved by focusing upon the theories that have been discussed above.

Development of marketing communication strategy

Marketing communication strategy is another essential aspect that helps Red Rock to connect with their potential clients and generate revenue. In this regard, not adhering to cultural aspects can reduce the effectiveness and ability to target customers through marketing communication. It can be stated that based on Hofstede’s cultural dimensions there are different kinds of organisations that are either futuristic or have short-term goals (Galindo-Martín et al. 2019). Therefore, it would be necessary for the organisation to develop a market communication strategy that appeals to both traditional short-term oriented companies as well as futuristic long-term oriented organisations. Similarly, cultural aspects such as the leadership of the organisation also need to be taken into consideration while developing the marketing communication strategy (Galindo-Martín et al. 2019). As the leaders of the client organisation are more inclined towards achieving control over their human resources; hence, in this case, Red Rock can develop their services using which can allow clients to have better control and monitoring capability of their workforce. It needs to be understood that the organisation must have a diverse marketing communication strategy that appeals to different organisations with different cultures (Assar and Hafsi, 2019). If the services provided by the organisation do not fit the cultural requirements of their client, then it is highly likely that they would not be approached by their target customers. Similarly, in terms of recruitment services that the organisation provides needs to be specifically mentioned in their market communication strategy as this can help in attracting a large number of organisations who are falling short of the workforce in the post-covid period.

Adopting culture in the context of off-payroll employees and digital transformation

Adoption of culture in the context of off-payroll employees can also turn out to be an issue specifically for Red Rock itself, as the employees who are being paid by the organisation would work in a different organisation under their payroll (Gobble, 2018). Hence, if Red Rock is unable to provide effective individuals to work in their client company, issues linked with inferior services can arise. Such issues mostly arise due to the cultural differences between the employees already working in the company and the employees who work on off-payroll services. There might be internal issues and conflicts arising between these two segments of individuals in the client organisation, which needs to be particularly avoided to maintain harmony and productivity.

Difficulty in terms of establishing and adopting digital transformation in the client organisation is another issue that affects Red Rock Consulting Ltd. (as per the ideas of Reinartz et al. 2019). In this consideration, it can be stated that the consultancy needs to be much more aware of the financial capabilities of the client organisation as well as their digital culture based on its suggestions for improvement. Hence, leaders need to decide whether the organisation needs to have a transparent and communicable relationship with their clients without wage effective solutions or not.

Training issues for knowledge transfer

The organisation also provides training services as a part of the knowledge transfer professional service and this training service needs to fit the organisational culture of their client. The above cultural theories and models have helped in understanding how different organisational culture has different impact on the employees’ motivation and performance levels (Loonam et al. 2018). As a result, it would be essential for the organisation to understand the culture of their client company based on which they can provide knowledge transfer solutions that suit the requirements and needs of their client company. Failing to do so reduces the overall positive impact of the service and its benefits for their client organisation thereby rendering the entire project of no use (Kleinert, 2021).

Recommendation for the next three years

A set of recommendations are provided below for overcoming the mentioned issues experienced by Red Rock in the next three years.

Integrated marketing communication (IMC)

Extended IMC concepts can be highly beneficial for the organisational business. It includes the consideration of both traditional and digital marketing and promotional techniques for reaching the target audience (Duralia, 2018). Red Rock Consulting Ltd. might be widely benefited with the conceptualisation of social media marketing and promotional attributes where they might be able to efficiently reach their target consumers by getting familiar with their cultural differences. Moreover, the consideration of social media marketing can eventually at a greater value to the organisational brand recognition. This feature could efficiently help them for ensuring future success along with adequate opportunities of business expansion in other respective markets.

Diverse cultural workforce

The organisational management is recommended to consider the maintenance of a diverse cultural workforce as an integral part of adopting culture in the context of off payroll employees. It can make the organisational workforce highly dedicated and motivated with regards to experiencing rising focus of the organisational management towards employee welfare. Apart from that, this move can eventually add a greater value to the recruitment of diverse cultural attributes within Red Rock Consulting Ltd. The maintenance of inclusivity is eventually required for the organisation due to which subsequent future opportunities could be enlightened with a diverse and inclusive workplace environment (Nam and Park, 2019).

Financial funding

The organisation and management is required to pay attention to arrange adequate financial support and funding as an integral part of coping with the issues experienced. In this regard, the organisation can consider bank loans, crowdfunding, and other respective options for mitigating the financial requirements. Moreover, the adoption and establishment of digital technologies would eventually require regular maintenance and proactive surveillance in order to avoid service disruption. In this case, the organisational management is eventually recommended to appoint an independent ombudsman in order to ensure prolific surveillance over the technological adoption and relational issues (Nugraheni, 2020).

Training and development facilities

The organisational management is highly suggested to consider adequate training, development, and events for potential employees regarding the simplification of knowledge transfer activities. The inclusion of expertise is highly suggested for this concern based on which the employee skills level might be increased to a large extent.

Conclusion

The overall report has highlighted different aspects of cultural values in association with marketing activities to be undertaken within Red Rock Consulting Ltd. With regards to the theoretical attributes, different issues have been highlighted on behalf of the organisational business including the consequences of cultural adoption, development of effective marketing communications strategy, difficulty to adopt and establish technology, training issues, and others. The theoretical aspects have highlighted deliberate concerns related to both national and organisational culture that can generate extended value by efficiently signifying the organisational offerings for potential consumers. With regards to this concern, the company is highly suggested to conceptualise integrated marketing communication attributes along with the maintenance of a diverse cultural workforce. The arrangement of adequate financial funding support and training and developmental facilities might also play a supporting role based on which the mentioned issues could be easily demolished.

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