Business analysis of International Business Operations Assignment

Business analysis of International Business Operations - Assignment Example The awareness of cultural diversity is vital for successful performance of a company in the current business environment which is characterised by globalisation. The chosen expatriates should possess the necessary skills and business accomplishments within the resident country. This is related to the assumption that if they can perform well in the native country, the same will be extended in the foreign country. However, cross-cultural diversity may downplay this notion. Maximising the chances of success of the expatriates in the targeted international market is the critical goal of any performance-oriented training manager. Otherwise, the company stands to lose valuable time, money and effort. This paper is an analysis of the foreign language and cultural training needs of expatriates of a prominent UK outdoor clothing company based in Trafford Park, Manchester. The expatriate managers are to be tasked to oversee of two smaller outdoor clothing companies that the company is planning to purchase in Barcelona and Sebastian in a five year period. Expatriation Harzing and Ruysseveldt (2004:252) define expatriates as employees who work outside their home countries. Equipping the expatriate managers with cultural competence will help them to understand how the Spanish people think, act and do business. The training skills will also enable them to identify the potential business challenges that they will face in the new markets, how to solve them, strategies that they may apply to improve working relationships in the new environment and how to harness the cultural diversity in Barcelona and Sebastian for the company’s advantage. According to Dowling and Welch (2004), expatriates are crucial to any business because they act as agents of socialisation, build networks and exercise direct control on behalf of the company in international destinations (Stiglitz, 2006). They also act as bridges between the internal and external company contexts. Diagram 1: The role of expatriates The recruiter assigned with the responsibility of recruiting expatriates should be selected according to the job requirements. Training should be designed in a manner to judge the expatriate’s intercultural interaction, flexibility, professional expertise and adaptability to the new culture (Cheng, 2007:23-38; Heffman, 2004: 114-125). It should also promote open mindedness and tolerance, experience in international assignments, language capability, family situation, motivation, positive attitude and empathy towards the host’s culture. The concept of linguistic and cultural diversity encompasses the variation that exists between people such as language, art, religion, dress, traditions, food and societal structures. According to Evan et al. (2002), a company is required to consider many factors from selection