Saturday, March 4, 2017

Week 9 - Katrina Shi

9. What is the value of knowing the culture of the country (product) that you are branding?

Through Rowan’s experience in Vietnam we see how drastically different two different cultures can be. In the western world, businesses relied on legal contracts or documents to bind deals, while in Vietnam businesses were more reliant on the relationship between those conducting the business. If one came into Vietnam seeking to do business without understanding the culture first, it wouldn’t be surprising if they ran into a few walls due to their lack of awareness. The cultural and regional differences demonstrated in the article show us how important it is to understand them and respect them in order to avoid any miscommunication or misunderstandings.




As such, we should keep in mind the cultural differences between the US and Bhutan when approaching our startup business plan. In order to create a successful business, it is integral for us to understand the Bhutanese culture first given how important it is to our business, and strive to consider the business from the local population’s point of view rather than simply imposing our ideas as superior as it can alienate our startup from the locals. In order to have our startup work successfully with the native Bhutanese, we must learn to respect the culture we seek to promote and think from their perspective instead of simply applying what we believe may work. 

Question: How can an outside perspective be helpful in looking at Bhutan's culture and promoting it? 



Sources: 

Rowan, Andrew. “Expectations, Social Context, and Miscommunication.”

Business culture in Vietnam: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLPgtd6XYF4

No comments:

Post a Comment