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1. WHAT IS TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION?

1.4 Case Study: The Cost of Poor Communication

No one knows exactly how much poor communication costs business, industry and government each year, but estimates suggest billions.  In fact, a recent estimate claims that the cost in the U.S. alone are close to $4 billion annually! [1] Poorly-worded or inefficient emails, careless reading or listening to instructions, documents that go unread due to poor design, hastily presenting inaccurate information, sloppy proofreading — all of these examples result in inevitable costs. The problem is that these costs aren’t usually included on the corporate balance sheet at the end of each year; if they are not properly or clearly defined, the problems remain unsolved.

You may have seen the Project Management Tree Cartoon before ( Figure 1.4.1 ); it has been used and adapted widely to illustrate the perils of poor communication during a project.

The waste caused by imprecisely worded regulations or instructions, confusing emails, long-winded memos, ambiguously written contracts, and other examples of poor communication is not as easily identified as the losses caused by a bridge collapse or a flood. But the losses are just as real—in reduced productivity, inefficiency, and lost business. In more personal terms, the losses are measured in wasted time, work, money, and ultimately, professional recognition. In extreme cases, losses can be measured in property damage, injuries, and even deaths.

The following “case studies” show how poor communications can have real world costs and consequences. For example, consider the “ Comma Quirk ” in the Rogers Contract that cost $2 million. [3]   A small error in spelling a company name cost £8.8 million. [4]   Examine Edward Tufte’s discussion of the failed PowerPoint presentation that attempted to prevent the Columbia Space Shuttle disaster. [5] The failure of project managers and engineers to communicate effectively resulted in the deadly Hyatt Regency walkway collapse. [6]   The case studies below offer a few more examples that might be less extreme, but much more common.

In small groups, examine each “case” and determine the following:

• Define the rhetorical situation : Who is communicating to whom about what, how, and why? What was the goal of the communication in each case?
• Identify the communication error (poor task or audience analysis? Use of inappropriate language or style? Poor organization or formatting of information? Other?)
• Explain what costs/losses were incurred by this problem.
• Identify possible solution s or strategies that would have prevented the problem, and what benefits would be derived from implementing solutions or preventing the problem.

Present your findings in a brief, informal presentation to the class.

Exercises adapted from T.M Georges’ Analytical Writing for Science and Technology. [7]

CASE 1: The promising chemist who buried his results

Bruce, a research chemist for a major petro-chemical company, wrote a dense report about some new compounds he had synthesized in the laboratory from oil-refining by-products. The bulk of the report consisted of tables listing their chemical and physical properties, diagrams of their molecular structure, chemical formulas and data from toxicity tests. Buried at the end of the report was a casual speculation that one of the compounds might be a particularly safe and effective insecticide.

Seven years later, the same oil company launched a major research program to find more effective but environmentally safe insecticides. After six months of research, someone uncovered Bruce’s report and his toxicity tests. A few hours of further testing confirmed that one of Bruce’s compounds was the safe, economical insecticide they had been looking for.

Bruce had since left the company, because he felt that the importance of his research was not being appreciated.

CASE 2: The rejected current regulator proposal

The Acme Electric Company worked day and night to develop a new current regulator designed to cut the electric power consumption in aluminum plants by 35%. They knew that, although the competition was fierce, their regulator could be produced more affordably, was more reliable, and worked more efficiently than the competitors’ products.

The owner, eager to capture the market, personally but somewhat hastily put together a 120-page proposal to the three major aluminum manufacturers, recommending that the new Acme regulators be installed at all company plants.

She devoted the first 87 pages of the proposal to the mathematical theory and engineering design behind his new regulator, and the next 32 to descriptions of the new assembly line she planned to set up to produce regulators quickly. Buried in an appendix were the test results that compared her regulator’s performance with present models, and a poorly drawn graph showed the potential cost savings over 3 years.

The proposals did not receive any response. Acme Electric didn’t get the contracts, despite having the best product. Six months later, the company filed for bankruptcy.

CASE 3: The instruction manual the scared customers away

As one of the first to enter the field of office automation, Sagatec Software, Inc. had built a reputation for designing high-quality and user-friendly database and accounting programs for business and industry. When they decided to enter the word-processing market, their engineers designed an effective, versatile, and powerful program that Sagatec felt sure would outperform any competitor.

To be sure that their new word-processing program was accurately documented, Sagatec asked the senior program designer to supervise writing the instruction manual. The result was a thorough, accurate and precise description of every detail of the program’s operation.

When Sagatec began marketing its new word processor, cries for help flooded in from office workers who were so confused by the massive manual that they couldn’t even find out how to get started. Then several business journals reviewed the program and judged it “too complicated” and “difficult to learn.” After an impressive start, sales of the new word processing program plummeted.

Sagatec eventually put out a new, clearly written training guide that led new users step by step through introductory exercises and told them how to find commands quickly. But the rewrite cost Sagatec $350,000, a year’s lead in the market, and its reputation for producing easy-to-use business software.

CASE 4: One garbled memo – 26 baffled phone calls

Joanne supervised 36 professionals in 6 city libraries. To cut the costs of unnecessary overtime, she issued this one-sentence memo to her staff:

After the 36 copies were sent out, Joanne’s office received 26 phone calls asking what the memo meant. What the 10 people who didn’t call about the memo thought is uncertain. It took a week to clarify the new policy.

CASE 5: Big science — Little rhetoric

The following excerpt is from Carl Sagan’s book, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, [8] itself both a plea for and an excellent example of clear scientific communication:

The Superconducting Supercollider (SSC) would have been the preeminent instrument on the planet for probing the fine structure of matter and the nature of the early Universe. Its price tag was $10 to $15 billion. It was cancelled by Congress in 1993 after about $2 billion had been spent — a worst of both worlds outcome. But this debate was not, I think, mainly about declining interest in the support of science. Few in Congress understood what modern high-energy accelerators are for. They are not for weapons. They have no practical applications. They are for something that is, worrisomely from the point of view of many, called “the theory of everything.” Explanations that involve entities called quarks, charm, flavor, color, etc., sound as if physicists are being cute. The whole thing has an aura, in the view of at least some Congresspeople I’ve talked to, of “nerds gone wild” — which I suppose is an uncharitable way of describing curiosity-based science. No one asked to pay for this had the foggiest idea of what a Higgs boson is. I’ve read some of the material intended to justify the SSC. At the very end, some of it wasn’t too bad, but there was nothing that really addressed what the project was about on a level accessible to bright but skeptical non-physicists. If physicists are asking for 10 or 15 billion dollars to build a machine that has no practical value, at the very least they should make an extremely serious effort, with dazzling graphics, metaphors, and capable use of the English language, to justify their proposal. More than financial mismanagement, budgetary constraints, and political incompetence, I think this is the key to the failure of the SSC.

CASE 6: The co-op student who mixed up genres

Chris was simultaneously enrolled in a university writing course and working as a co-op student at the Widget Manufacturing plant. As part of his co-op work experience, Chris shadowed his supervisor/mentor on a safety inspection of the plant, and was asked to write up the results of the inspection in a compliance memo . In the same week, Chris’s writing instructor assigned the class to write a narrative essay based on some personal experience. Chris, trying to be efficient, thought that the plant visit experience could provide the basis for his essay assignment as well.

He wrote the essay first, because he was used to writing essays and was pretty good at it. He had never even seen a compliance memo, much less written one, so was not as confident about that task. He began the essay like this:

On June 1, 2018, I conducted a safety audit of the Widget Manufacturing plant in New City. The purpose of the audit was to ensure that all processes and activities in the plant adhere to safety and handling rules and policies outlined in the Workplace Safety Handbook and relevant government regulations. I was escorted on a 3-hour tour of the facility by…

Chris finished the essay and submitted it to his writing instructor. He then revised the essay slightly, keeping the introduction the same, and submitted it to his co-op supervisor. He “aced” the essay, getting an A grade, but his supervisor told him that the report was unacceptable and would have to be rewritten – especially the beginning, which should have clearly indicated whether or not the plant was in compliance with safety regulations. Chris was aghast! He had never heard of putting the “conclusion” at the beginning . He missed the company softball game that Saturday so he could rewrite the report to the satisfaction of his supervisor.

• J. Bernoff, "Bad writing costs business billions," Daily Beast , Oct. 16, 2016 [Online]. Available:  https://www.thedailybeast.com/bad-writing-costs-businesses-billions?ref=scroll ↵
• J. Reiter, "The 'Project Cartoon' root cause," Medium, 2 July 2019. Available: https://medium.com/@thx2001r/the-project-cartoon-root-cause-5e82e404ec8a ↵
• G. Robertson, “Comma quirk irks Rogers,” Globe and Mail , Aug. 6, 2006 [Online]. Available: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/comma-quirk-irks-rogers/article1101686/ ↵
• “The £8.8m typo: How one mistake killed a family business,” (28 Jan. 2015). The Guardian [online]. Available: https://www.theguardian.com/law/shortcuts/2015/jan/28/typo-how-one-mistake-killed-a-family-business-taylor-and-sons ↵
• E. Tufte, The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint , 2001 [Online]. Available: https://www.inf.ed.ac.uk/teaching/courses/pi/2016_2017/phil/tufte-powerpoint.pdf ↵
• C. McFadden, "Understanding the tragic Hyatt Regency walkway collapse," Interesting Engineering , July 4, 2017 [Online]: https://interestingengineering.com/understanding-hyatt-regency-walkway-collapse ↵
• T.M. Goerges (1996), Analytical Writing for Science and Technology [Online], Available: https://www.scribd.com/document/96822930/Analytical-Writing ↵
• C. Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, New York, NY: Random House, 1995. ↵

Technical Writing Essentials Copyright © 2019 by Suzan Last is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Master of Advanced Studies in INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

Case Studies in Intercultural Communication

Welcome to the MIC Case Studies page.

Here you will find more than fifty different case studies, developed by our former participants from the Master of Advanced Studies in Intercultural Communication. The richness of this material is that it contains real-life experiences in intercultural communication problems in various settings, such as war, family, negotiations, inter-religious conflicts, business, workplace, and others. 

Cases also include renowned organizations and global institutions, such as the United Nations, Multinationals companies, Non-Governmental Organisations, Worldwide Events, European, African, Asian and North and South America Governments and others.

Intercultural situations are characterized by encounters, mutual respect and the valorization of diversity by individuals or groups of individuals identifying with different cultures. By making the most of the cultural differences, we can improve intercultural communication in civil society, in public institutions and the business world.

How can these Case Studies help you?

These case studies were made during the classes at the Master of Advanced Studies in Intercultural Communication. Therefore, they used the most updated skills, tools, theories and best practices available.   They were created by participants working in the field of public administration; international organizations; non-governmental organizations; development and cooperation organizations; the business world (production, trade, tourism, etc.); the media; educational institutions; and religious institutions. Through these case studies, you will be able to learn through real-life stories, how practitioners apply intercultural communication skills in multicultural situations.

Why are we opening our "Treasure Chest" for you?

We believe that Intercultural Communication has a growing role in the lives of organizations, companies and governments relationship with the public, between and within organizations. There are many advanced tools available to access, analyze and practice intercultural communication at a professional level.  Moreover, professionals are demanded to have an advanced cross-cultural background or experience to deal efficiently with their environment. International organizations are requiring workers who are competent, flexible, and able to adjust and apply their skills with the tact and sensitivity that will enhance business success internationally. Intercultural communication means the sharing of information across diverse cultures and social groups, comprising individuals with distinct religious, social, ethnic, and educational backgrounds. It attempts to understand the differences in how people from a diversity of cultures act, communicate and perceive the world around them. For this reason, we are sharing our knowledge chest with you, to improve and enlarge intercultural communication practice, awareness, and education.

We promise you that our case studies, which are now also yours, will delight, entertain, teach, and amaze you. It will reinforce or change the way you see intercultural communication practice, and how it can be part of your life today. Take your time to read them; you don't need to read all at once, they are rather small and very easy to read. The cases will always be here waiting for you. Therefore, we wish you an insightful and pleasant reading.

These cases represent the raw material developed by the students as part of their certification project. MIC master students are coming from all over the world and often had to write the case in a non-native language. No material can be reproduced without permission. ©   Master of Advanced Studies in Intercultural Communication , Università della Svizzera italiana, Switzerland.

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If you want to receive our last updated case studies or news about the program, leave us your email, and you will know in first-hand about intercultural communication education and cutting-edge research in the intercultural field.

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Corporate communication case studies – A Comprehensive Guide

C orporate communication case studies are detailed analyses of how organizations handle various communication challenges and opportunities. These case studies often focus on real-world scenarios where companies have successfully or unsuccessfully managed their communication strategies. By studying these cases, professionals can learn about best practices, common pitfalls, and innovative approaches in corporate communication.

Importance of Corporate Communication Case Studies Understanding corporate communication case studies is crucial for several reasons. They provide practical examples of how communication strategies are implemented in different contexts, helping organizations learn from others’ experiences. Case studies offer insights into crisis management, public relations, branding, and internal communication, making them a valuable resource for developing effective communication strategies.

Corporate communication case studies are invaluable resources for understanding and improving communication strategies within organizations. By analyzing real-world scenarios where companies have successfully or unsuccessfully managed their communication efforts, these case studies offer practical insights and lessons that can guide future strategies.

The key elements of corporate communication case studies—such as background information, communication challenges, strategies, implementation, outcomes, lessons learned, best practices, innovations, challenges, and recommendations—provide a structured approach to learning from others’ experiences. These elements help organizations identify effective communication tactics, avoid common pitfalls, and adapt successful strategies to their unique contexts.

Key Components of Corporate Communication Case Studies 1. Background Information Each case study begins with background information about the company involved. This section provides context for the communication challenge or opportunity faced by the organization. It includes details about the company’s history, industry, market position, and key stakeholders.

2. Communication Challenge This part of the case study outlines the specific communication challenge that the company faced. Challenges can range from handling a public relations crisis to launching a new product or managing internal communication during a major organizational change.

3. Communication Strategy The case study details the communication strategy employed by the company to address the challenge. This includes the objectives of the strategy, the key messages conveyed, and the methods used to communicate these messages. It also covers the role of different communication channels, such as social media, press releases, and internal newsletters.

4. Implementation This section describes how the communication strategy was put into action. It includes information about the team responsible for executing the strategy, the timeline of the implementation, and any specific tactics used to engage stakeholders.

5. Outcome The outcome section evaluates the results of the communication strategy. It discusses whether the objectives were met, how the stakeholders responded, and any measurable impacts on the company’s reputation, market position, or financial performance.

6. Lessons Learned One of the most valuable aspects of a case study is the lessons learned. This section reflects on what worked well, what didn’t, and how the company could have improved its approach. These insights are beneficial for other organizations facing similar challenges.

7. Best Practices Case studies often highlight best practices that emerged from the communication strategy. These best practices serve as guidelines for other companies looking to enhance their communication efforts.

8. Innovations and Trends Some case studies showcase innovative communication techniques or trends that were used. This section explores how the company adopted new technologies or approaches and their impact on the overall strategy.

9. Challenges and Obstacles Every communication strategy faces obstacles. This part of the case study discusses the challenges encountered during the implementation phase and how they were addressed or overcome.

10. Recommendations Based on the analysis, the case study may offer recommendations for future communication strategies. These recommendations are typically grounded in the case study’s findings and are aimed at helping other organizations avoid similar pitfalls.

Case Study Examples 1. Crisis Communication: United Airlines United Airlines faced a major crisis when a passenger was forcibly removed from an overbooked flight. The case study analyzes the airline’s response, including its public apologies, changes to its overbooking policies, and the impact on its brand reputation.

2. Brand Management: Apple’s Product Launch Apple’s product launches are known for their high level of secrecy and excitement. This case study examines Apple’s communication strategies surrounding a new product release, including media relations, event management, and customer engagement.

3. Internal Communication: Google’s Employee Relations Google’s approach to internal communication, especially in managing employee feedback and engagement, is analyzed in this case study. It highlights the company’s practices in fostering a positive work environment and handling employee concerns.

4. Public Relations: BP’s Oil Spill The BP oil spill case study explores how BP managed its public relations during the environmental disaster. It covers the company’s crisis communication efforts, media handling, and long-term impact on its reputation.

5. Social Media Strategy: Starbucks Starbucks’ use of social media to engage with customers and address issues is the focus of this case study. It looks at the company’s approach to brand advocacy, customer feedback, and crisis management on social platforms.

6. Rebranding Efforts: Old Spice Old Spice’s rebranding campaign, which included a series of humorous ads and a social media strategy, is analyzed. This case study examines how the brand revitalized its image and increased its market share.

7. Global Communication: McDonald’s McDonald’s global communication strategy, including how it adapts its messaging for different markets, is explored in this case study. It discusses the challenges and successes of maintaining a consistent brand while addressing local preferences.

8. Corporate Social Responsibility: Ben & Jerry’s Ben & Jerry’s commitment to social and environmental causes is the focus of this case study. It examines how the company communicates its values and engages with stakeholders on issues like sustainability and social justice.

9. Change Management: IBM IBM’s communication strategies during major organizational changes, such as mergers and acquisitions, are analyzed. This case study highlights how the company manages internal and external communication during times of transition.

10. Leadership Communication: Tesla’s CEO Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, is known for his unconventional communication style. This case study explores Musk’s approach to public speaking, social media, and stakeholder engagement, and its impact on Tesla’s brand.

Conclusion C orporate communication case studies offer valuable lessons and insights into how organizations manage their communication strategies. By studying these cases, professionals can gain a deeper understanding of effective communication practices and apply these lessons to their own organizational contexts. Whether addressing a crisis, launching a new product, or managing internal relations, the knowledge gained from case studies is essential for crafting successful communication strategies. the study of corporate communication case studies equips professionals with the knowledge to enhance their communication practices, manage crises effectively, engage stakeholders, and achieve their organizational goals. By leveraging the insights gained from these case studies, companies can refine their communication strategies, build stronger relationships with stakeholders, and ultimately drive greater success in their operations.

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Databases with case studies, open educational resources, open access journals & association reports, examples of case studies.

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In the databases, use terms like "case study" or "case method." Keep the terms in quotes to force the results to only return that phrase. Combine with terms like "social media," "education," "public relations," "market research," etc.

Begin by cross-searching most of the library databases. You may have more luck using one of the specialty databases listed below.

For more information on case studies, see the Case Study Research Guide .

Search company and industry information in the Industry Profiles Guide .

Company and industry information, company fundamentals, investment research reports, industry ranking, company profiles, SWOT reports, and financial reports. along with scholarly and general business periodicals.

• Case Studies in Strategic Communication (CSSC) "CSSC is dedicated to the study of strategic communication through the case study form. Case studies illustrate the strategies, tactics, and execution of communication campaigns through in-depth coverage of a single situation. CSSC is a peer-reviewed online publication housed at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism.
• Institute for Public Relations "These studies are composed of IPR’s best-in-class research, gold standard papers and other signature research that exemplify IPR’s mission of bringing relevant research to the public relations practice."
• Public Relations Council Case Studies The PR Council Association collects case studies from various agencies and PR firms.
• Strategies & Tactics Published by the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), "Strategies & Tactics is a modern newspaper that helps you stay up-to-date with the latest news, best practices and information about everything from crisis communications to social media to reputation management."

Depending on the company or industry you are targeting, there is an abundance of case studies in the library databases. Here are two examples. The first discusses the effective use of social media in PR campaigns. The second explores brand management decisions concerning the terroir product of an authentic beer brand.

Allagui, I., & Breslow, H. (2016). Social media for public relations: Lessons from four effective cases. Public Relations Review , 42 (1), 20–30. https://doi-org.esearch.ut.edu/10.1016/j.pubrev.2015.12.001

Melewar, T. C., & Skinner, H. (2020). Territorial brand management: Beer, authenticity, and sense of place. Journal of Business Research, 116 , 680-689. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.03.038

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IESE Insight

Real-world communication lessons

The book Communication: Academic Case Studies explores the challenges of branding, public relations, social media and more.

Do it well and spread the word, because it doesn't exist unless it is communicated, claims one public relations maxim.

Communication forms a fundamental part of business management and should be a strategic priority, as illustrated in the 12 real-life examples in Communication: Academic Case Studies (IESE & Dircom, 2014).

Coordinated by IESE Prof. Julián Villanueva , together with Ignacio Bel and Sebastian Cebrián of Dircom, the Spanish professional association of communication directors, the book was originally published in Spanish in 2012.

The experiences of the companies serve to explore the main challenges facing communication directors. Themes include branding, repositioning after mergers, corporate social responsibility (CSR) goals, public relations and social media.

The keys to branding

Communicating a unified corporate brand, or betting on a multibrand strategy, is one of the major strategic decisions for companies with a number of products grouped under a single corporate umbrella.

This was the dilemma facing Acesur , a leading player in Spain's vegetable oil sector.

Another issue is the disconnect between how a company's brand is perceived by its stakeholders and what it actually provides in terms of products and services.

This weighed on Deloitte , a top provider of audit and tax services, which struggled to promote its consultancy business, despite the high regard with which it was held by its clients.

In the case study, Deloitte considers several possibilities, including the creation of a new brand for its consultancy services and using social media to gain greater visibility.

Change of identity

Mergers and acquisitions force companies to reconsider many aspects of their communication strategy.

One case in point is that of Spanish construction and logistics behemoth Ferrovial , which was considering creating a new brand identity and architecture following its acquisition of BAA Airports and the subsequent merger with Cintra. The changes made it necessary to adapt the brand to the company's new identity.

Another illuminating example comes from Spain's leading natural gas provider, Gas Natural . Its failed takeover bid for power utility Endesa revealed the importance of interweaving communication into the company's strategic planning.

Three years later, when making a takeover bid for Unión Fenosa, the company designed a comprehensive communication strategy to be implemented from day one.

The company opted for transparency from the outset, both externally and internally.

The employees of the two companies, totaling about 20,000 spread across 25 countries, were made partners in the operation, thanks to an ambitious internal communication plan that helped ease uncertainty.

Historically, the human resources department was responsible for communication with employees.

However, on this occasion, those duties were transferred to the department of communication, which became an additional strategic mechanism deployed for the takeover bid and ultimately played a key role in its success.

Social commitment

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is another area that has gained prominence in corporate communication over the past few years.

At many companies, CSR is part of the company's core management strategy.

At Novartis , for example, the communication department acts as a strategic partner and is not only responsible for presenting the actions to be carried out, but also spearheads the implementation and subsequent management of those actions.

Communication also played a key role in La Caixa 's rebranding of its foundation.

The goal was to return to the origins of social action and refocus on the underprivileged, which led the Spanish bank to reinstate the name Obra Social La Caixa, which roughly translates as La Caixa Social Work.

The organization decided to give its CSR activities maximum exposure through a proactive communication strategy and advertising campaign.

It also invested in new technologies, creating a multimedia newsroom to facilitate the work of journalists. Press releases were replaced by links journalists could use to access textual content, pictures in different resolutions and high-quality audio and video, all suitable for publication.

Trust, transparency and innovation

A company's media relations is particularly important in crisis communication, as AENA , the Spanish airports authority, learned in its dealings with the air traffic controllers' strike in 2010.

Another aspect addressed in the book is that of essential innovation, illustrated through a case involving another Spanish bank, BBVA .

The financial institution invested in branded content, a strategy reaching beyond traditional product placement to incorporate the brand into new or existing content.

Examples include the company's creation of a series designed for distribution over the Internet and the sponsorship of the Spanish soccer league, which has been renamed Liga BBVA.

Global sponsorship is also the focus of the case on Banco Santander , whose sponsorship of Formula One has helped reinforce its brand's positioning.

The rise of social media

The book could not be an accurate depiction of 21st-century business communication without including the latest online trends.

The case of Coca-Cola reflects the difficulties of branding on social networks.

The world's largest soft-drink company has always been an early adopter of emerging media technologies: In 1906, it published the first print ad; in 1930, it experimented with radio; and in the 1950s, it ventured into the realm of television.

In 2011, the rise of social networks led the Spanish division of Coca-Cola, already a pioneer in offline branding, to rethink its strategy and adapt to the digital age.

But is it better to opt for a unified corporate branding approach or to give each brand a differentiated presence on the Internet?

Do social media constitute a complement to traditional communication or a fundamental shift in the approach to interacting with customers?

Inevitably, these are issues that every brand, no matter how big or small, will have to address in its own way in the coming years.

Note that most of the case studies included in the book are also available separately through IESE Publishing . Search there for the latest IESE case studies on AENA , BBVA , La Caixa , Coca-Cola Spain , Deloitte , DKV Seguros , Ferrovial , Gas Natural , Grupo Aramón and Santander .

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Cross-cultural Communication: Case Study

2017, © www.odayalnabhan.com

Cross-cultural communication is the process by which people from different cultures exchange, negotiate, and mediate their cultural differences through language, space relationships, and non-verbal gestures. In business, cross-cultural communication is a significant determinant of how a person will successfully carry out business with stakeholders and teams beyond their cultural boundary. Benefits such as increased bandwidth, competitive advantage and institutional knowledge are best realized when there is adequate and efficient communication (Bilets, & Serdyuk, 2016).

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JRK (Jurnal Riset Komunikasi)

International Journal of Business &amp; Management Studies

In a world so diverse and culturally rich as the one we live in today; it would be a pity to waste the possibility to broaden our horizons and understand a little of what is distant from our everyday lives. Communication is the most powerful tool we have to connect with other human beings, not only to fulfil our social needs but also for business purposes. To be effective communicators, one is not only required to speak several languages: there is so much more than words can describe. Managers need to learn about other cultures’ traditions, body language, values, customs, and many more cultural aspects that deeply influence the way business is conducted around the world. This is why cross-cultural communication is such an important topic for business studies and has long been rightfully studied. The analysis of the concepts of culture and communication are the key to understanding such a complex theme.

Culture is commonly defined as the ocean of values, attitudes, behaviors and transactions which govern the human life and civilization. Culture is the root of all policies, programmes, products, services and other activities which take place across the globe. In the world, there is no common culture, language, values and aspirations. There is ever growing need for constant communication across cultures. The cultural exchange programmes are becoming imminent in the age of globalization since businesses are becoming increasingly global in their operations. The multi-national corporations have understood the need for communication across cultures in view of their ever increasing business operations. Inter-cultural communication also enables the business organizations to understand the diversified needs of the customers across the globe and fulfill their demands. The cultural interaction has become an important means of facilitating inter-cultural relations which benefits the people reg...

Studies in Media and Communication, 2018

The paper addresses the foundation of cross-cultural communication and its relation to global business. Shina Neo (2015) states that, humans take for granted their communication with one another, stating, “In a multicultural organization, how employees communicate can set the tone.” Populations in North Africa and the Middle East believe in “external control” over destiny, meaning events are predetermined. In Japan, the productivity movement is based on respect for humanity, which is focused on cooperation. John-ren Chen and Christian Smekal (2004) argue that liberalizing international markets creates foreign capital and foreign investment. Concurring in support of global business are the European Union and African Union, Organization of American States and Caribbean Basin, plus the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. Furthering cross-cultural communication and global business is new information technology. Meanwhile, the latter has dismantled territorial boundaries. Nilufer...

In today’s changing business scenario increasing number of firms extends their business abroad. Effective communication with people of different cultures is especially challenging. Cultural awareness shapes how business firms behave in cross-culturally reflected international markets. It is broadly recognized that cultural factors act as invisible barriers in international business communications. Understanding cultural differences is one of the most significant skills for firms to develop in order to have a competitive advantage in international business. Organizations should focus on eliminating the cross cultural communication barriers. Understanding of cultural diversity is the key to effective cross-cultural communications. Firms which fail to understand the cross cultural communication barriers face several issues in many aspects of international business communication. It impacts free trade policies, localization and standardization strategy decisions, advertising, brand effectiveness, business relationships, international business management, international marketing, international negotiation, and consumer behavior, staffing, industrial relations, interpersonal relationships, negotiation, and teambuilding. Cross-cultural communication presents a fine opportunity to foster global peace and prosperity. It may also present unpleasant consequences if not well managed. Many problems arise in our workplace today as a result of the barriers cultural diversity imposes on cross cultural communication. Cross-cultural communication barriers such as anxiety, uncertainty, stereotyping, and ethnocentrism are caused by inadequate cultural knowledge and the lack of intercultural communicative skills. Adequate training in cross cultural communication and exposure to other cultures is essential in eliminating these barriers. This paper INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT (IJM) ISSN 0976-6502 (Print) ISSN 0976-6510 (Online) Volume 6, Issue 1, January (2015), pp. 348-351 © IAEME: http://www.iaeme.com/IJM.asp Journal Impact Factor (2014): 7.2230 (Calculated by GISI)


  IJM © I A E M E International Journal of Management (IJM), ISSN 0976 – 6502(Print), ISSN 0976 - 6510(Online), Volume 6, Issue 1, January (2015), pp. 348-351 © IAEME
349
R. Delecta Jenifer and G. P. Raman, “Cross Cultural Communication Barriers in Workplace” – (ICAM 2015)
concludes with a suggestion for the understanding of the effect of cross cultural communication barriers on international business.

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