A STUDY ON CROSS CULTURAL COMMUNICATION FOR UNDERSTANDING CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR IN GLOBAL CORPORATE CONTEXT

In this era of globalisation, the interaction of business people is quite frequent with their foreign counterparts and with the rapid advancement in the means of transport and communication we are witnessing an intense movement of business class from their parent country to foreign nations. In the case of electronic correspondence also this trend is visible and now the whole world has become a global village. Communication across the geographical boundaries of a nation is these days need of the hour but it has resulted in a challenge for the corporates. They have to equip their workforce with the global level competencies and particularly the verbal and non-verbal communication aspects which are quite different from one nation to other because of differences in their culture, value system and ethos. This is visible in their language, clothing style, eating and greeting styles and corporate etiquettes and mannerism. The modern-day business leaders and entrepreneurs need to be aware of this aspect of crosscultural communication when they interact globally with their clients and fellow business partners for business dealings. Similarly, the multinational companies also have to take care of the diversity in consumer behaviour pertaining to their needs, wants, aspirations, taste and preferences. This always pose a stiff challenge in front of the marketers to cater the diverse cultural backgrounds of the customers who may have different perception and attitude towards their product or service offerings. Moreover, the buying motives and the consumer decision making criteria are also differing from region to region. This paper explores cross-cultural consumer behaviour in corporate environments, with particular emphasis on how the understanding of cross-cultural communication is important to 185 managers. Its objective is to provide actionable knowledge that managers may use to transcend cultural complexities to develop strong relationships with consumers on a global basis. This would enable them to enter uncharted market territories on the globe and expand their horizons of business.