Geert Hofstede’s SIX (6) cultural dimensions

1. The different countries operating in the global business environment tend to operate in a different manner from one another and with respect to this, it becomes considerably important for any business which is operating in both the environments to see to it that they look out for both business cultures and take decisions accordingly (Saleem & Larimo, 2017). For this analysis, the cultural environment of New Zealand will be compared to that of India using the Hofstede`s cultural dimension.

This dimension of the Hofstede’s theory measures the extent to which power in a country is distributed and that power is in reality not distributed equally. The score of New Zealand in this dimension is considerably low and they tend to believe that the managers are easily accessible and their reliance on the employees is also considerably high (Favaretto, Dihl, Barreto & Musse, 2016). However, India scores considerably high in this dimension which means that they prefer hierarchy and like the work to be delegated. The culture of Nokia is also highly independent whereby the different employees are allowed adequate independence and the power is decentralized.

This dimension checks the level of dependency which exists in a country at large. With a score of 79, New Zealand can be stated to be an individualistic culture where the society is loosely knit and people tend to look out for themselves (Marshall, 2014).  In India, the score is intermediate and even here the preference for a closely knit society is present. It is same in the case on Nokia whereby the relationship between the employer and the employee is based on mutual benefits and continence.

                                                                       Figure 1: The Hofstede comparison between India and New Zealand

                                                                                                          (Source: Hofstede, 2017).

Global Marketing Strategies Adopted by Nokia

The masculinity aspect aims to check the measure by which the society is driven by success and competition whereas the feminine aspect of the society means values take a larger place in the organization at large (Perrin, 2015). The score of New Zealand in this dimension is 58 and it can thereby be stated to be a masculine society driven by success and achievement. India is also a masculine society with a score of 57 and is based on competition whereby success is taken to be an important factor or judgement. Nokia takes its culture from Finland and the people in the firm believe on working in harmony just like in India.

This dimension of the Hofstede theory measures the extent to which the members of a society feel threatened by unknown situations and are ready to take risks. New Zealand has an intermediate score in this dimension which does not show a preference.  By scoring 40 India reflects that people believ in taking risks and and people believe to take considerable actions. In the same manner, the different employees at Nokia tend to avoid any ambiguity and this is the reason that its approach towards the innovation has been so limited.

The long term orientation tends to measure the manner in which the society maintains a link with its past along with the future. The socialites scoring low here tend to prefer maintaining long term traditions as compared to those who score high (Hofstede, 2017). New Zealand scores a low score of 33 in this aspect which means that they are a normative society with a sense of strong traditionalism. Unlike New Zealand the Indian culture believes in Karma and there exists acceptance in the society and this greatly reflects for Nokia whereby there is a strong emphasis on culture and traditions

The last dimension is indulgence which means that the extent to which the people as present in a society tend to give away to their impulses and desires. Where the control is weak it is known as an indulgence whereas when it’s strong it is known as Restraint. The score of New Zealand is high and hence, they are Indulgent and the people enjoy their impulses and enjoy their life. India can be stated to be a rather restrained country where duty comes first. This can be reflected in Nokia where they believe in a strong work life balance.

Strategic Option for Adapting Products and Communication

2. When a company operates in a global environment it is very important for it to ensure that it is following a strategy which suits its overall objective along with ensuring that it is able to maintain its standardized positioning. However, after the analysis of the annual reports of the countries which are dealing with Nokia it can be mentioned that originally in Finland, Nokia follows a standardized strategy whereby their products are either based on competitive pricing or edge cutting innovative technology (Nokia.com., 2018). Moreover, it can be noted that Nokia believes in adaptability as well and understands that a particular technology which works in India might not necessarily workout someplace else and it is for this reason that it customizes its product based on the population and the environment in its targeted country and adjust the size and product features as per the country (Rallapalli & Montgomery, 2015). For example, to protect the phone from dust, the company designs its product as per that consideration in countries in India, Pakistan, and other related Pacific countries. Moreover, it has designed the additional features and phone design as per the New Zealand target market and with respect to this, Nokia adopts a mix of Standardized as well as adaptable strategy.

3. When a company decides to expand strategically into newer markets it needs to ensure that it forms a good communication as well as product strategy which will then go a long way in assisting the company to decide the kind of approach it wants to follow for itself. The different strategies available to Nokia are as follows:

• Product and Communications extension (Dual extension): The given strategy is an extreme one whereby Nokia would choose to market a product which is standardized in nature by making use of a communications strategy. For example, the early entrants into the international market will opt for a given set of approach.
• Product Extension – Communications Adaptation: The second strategy aims to ensure that the differences in the environment are respected and hence, the same product is advertised by making use of new and customized advertising campaigns in order to ensure long term success (fi ,2018). For example, Levis using this approach to sell the same denim with different cultural tags and communication strategies.
• Product Adaptation – Communications Extension: This strategy is the third adaptation strategy alternatively, if Nokia aims to choose this strategy then it may bring about a change in their product but adopt a standardized communication strategy (Weinstein & Pohlman, 2015). British Petroleum tends to use this strategy whereby it changes the product components but then it tends to use its standardized marketing strategy for its growth.
• Product and Communications Adaptation – Dual Adaptation: In this strategy, the firm does not make a single change but instead aims to alter its product features as well as its communications strategy (Olson, Slater, Hult & Olson, 2018). In this manner their approach can be totally different and thereby cause a profound impact on the employees.
• Product Invention: The last strategy is the product invention where the company aims to create a product with a global scope rather than for a single country. Black and Decker makes use of the given strategy in order to ensure long term success.

It is suggested that Nokia makes use of a Dual Adaptation strategy whereby it makes a change in the product as well as the communication strategy at large (Lacoste, 2016). This way they will be able to cater to the specific needs of the new market and gain a larger audience.

4. Part A

                                                                                        Figure 2: The 6C model of Social Media

Social Media Promotion on Facebook

                                                                                                    (Source:  Marshall, 2014). 

The 6C model of Social Media tends to look out for the six major aspects of the social media page in order to analyze whether the content of Nokia is good or not. The social media channel which has been used for the purpose of analysis is Facebook (Mazanec, Crotts, Gursoy & Lu, 2015). The six different aspects which are analyzed are as follows:

The company name is Nokia and it is present on Facebook with the name Nokia itself. The reason that it has been labelled as Nokia on the different social media websites tends to act as an advantage for the overall welfare of the brand popularity. The Nokia has around 13 million followers on Facebook which is a considerably good number of followers for Facebook as a social media channel.

The content which is present in the social media channel is relating to the new products and services which is provided by the brand (Nokia.com. , 2018). Along with this, Nokia comes up with various new offers and innovative programs which intend to attract the different customers and seeks to ensure that the content creates a pull which will attract more followers and create sustained demand for the products.

The community refers to the group of followers for the brand Nokia. There are 13 million followers of Nokia on Facebook who are constantly updated with the brand and tend to follow the posts of the company carefully. Moreover, they tend to ensure that they promote the best practices about the brand and has an ardent group of consumers. These community members also include the suppliers, sellers and marketing.

The customers are the purchasers of the brand who tend to purchase the product which Nokia tends to take out (Nokia.com. ,2018). Moreover, these customers have been a fan of the brand since a very long time and with respect to this, it is very important to understand that the brand constantly is required to post content which attracts the customers at large.

The conversations refer to the conversation which takes place between the company and the different members of the community. It is suggested that Nokia is keener on this conversation at large and tends to engage considerably with the different members of the community which will then assist them to maintain strong relationships with them.

Comparative Analysis of Facebook Pages in Different Countries

Control refers to the tap which takes place between the activities of Nokia in the social media website. On facebook the Nokia brand has to take into consideration that they keep a control on its checks and that the conversations are analyzed in order to ensure proper strategies for the firm.

In the given analysis based on Fraser and Dutta`s social media categories, it can be seen that the New Zealand page of Nokia has not been doing that well and that with respect to this, it needs to ensure that they engage in active engagement with the crowd and build up a good community (Facebook.com. ,2018). In the Indian page, the page has been adequately built with a large number of followers and a large customer base which tends to ensure that the different members of the community are satisfied with the performance of Nokia at large.

Part C

The Response rate can be defined as the key measurement of the number of people who tend to respond to the advertisements and communication calls as laid down by the company at large. Nokia as a brand offers various advertisements to the different consumers and if the response in the form of the number of likes on the social media page, the comments and the conversations are high then the response rate is taken to be quite good and accurate(Gerbaudo, 2018). The marketers often take this measure as their communication metrics. The different companies tend to measure the response rate by dividing the number of recipients who react to a post in the form of an offer by the total amount of recipients which are kept in a given space.

With respect to Nokia`s Facebook page in New Zealand it can be stated that Nokia`s page there needs to ensure that it tends to engage in adequate offers and conversations with the audience in order to ensure a higher response rate. As the social media websites are largely concerned with response and its impact, the response rate is considered to be a good metric of the measurement of communication.

References

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Facebook.com. (2018). Nokia [online]. Available at:  https://www.facebook.com/nokia/

Favaretto, R. M., Dihl, L., Barreto, R., & Musse, S. R. (2016, September). Using group behaviors to detect hofstede cultural dimensions. In Image Processing (ICIP), 2016 IEEE International Conference on (pp. 2936-2940). IEEE.

Gerbaudo, P. (2018). Tweets and the streets: Social media and contemporary activism. Pluto Press

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Mazanec, J. A., Crotts, J. C., Gursoy, D., & Lu, L. (2015). Homogeneity versus heterogeneity of cultural values: An item-response theoretical approach applying Hofstede’s cultural dimensions in a single nation. Tourism Management, 48, 299-304.

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Nokia.com. (2018) Nokia corporation financial report.  [Online]. Available at: https://www.nokia.com/en_int/news/releases/2018/07/26/nokia-corporation-financial-report-for-q2-and-half-year-2018 (Retrieved on: 19 Oct. 2018).

Olson, E. M., Slater, S. F., Hult, G. T. M., & Olson, K. M. (2018). The application of human resource management policies within the marketing organization: The impact on business and marketing strategy implementation. Industrial Marketing Management, 69, 62-73.

Perrin, A. (2015). Social media usage. Pew research center, 52-68.

Rallapalli, K. C., & Montgomery, C. D. (2015). Marketing strategies for Asian-Americans: guidelines based on Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions. In Minority marketing: Research perspectives for the 1990s (pp. 73-77). Springer, Cham.

Saleem, S., & Larimo, J. (2017). Hofstede cultural framework and advertising research: An assessment of the literature. In Advances in Advertising Research (Vol. VII) (pp. 247-263). Springer Gabler, Wiesbaden.

Weinstein, A., & Pohlman, R. A. (2015). Customer value: a new paradigm for marketing management. In Proceedings of the 1997 Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) Annual Conference (pp. 132-133). Springer, Cham.